Zimbabwe's Mujuru faces test as Mugabe's deputy

Joyce Mujuru

HARARE - The woman picked by Zimbabwe's ruling party as President Robert Mugabe's new deputy earned her stripes as a teenage liberation war fighter.

But Joyce Mujuru's latest rise in rank has largely been attributed by the local media to her husband -- a former army commander -- who is said to be keen to stop a political rival from occupying the post.

"She has earned her place in the past, but in this case she is coming through as a pawn in a deadly political game," said analyst Eldred Masunungure.

Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party confirmed Mujuru on Saturday as the party's vice president, virtually guaranteeing her appointment to a similar position in the government.

The position was left vacant after the death last year of veteran politician Simon Muzenda.

Political analysts say despite Mujuru's selection as Zimbabwe's first woman vice president, jockeying for Mugabe's position would continue until he retires.

Mugabe's state presidential term ends in 2008, but few expect either Mujuru, who is likely to face more political challenges in future, or first vice-president Joseph Msika, who will be 86 then, to succeed him.

Mugabe bowed to pressure from a ZANU-PF faction led by Mujuru's husband, General Solomon Mujuru, to give a woman the second vice-presidency post -- effectively sidelining speaker of parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, widely seen as his favoured heir, the analysts say.

While Mugabe himself has never publicly commented on speculation that he preferred Mnangagwa, analysts said negative publicity linking Mnangagwa to controversial deals involving party companies might have lost him points.

Mujuru is an affable character, who many say has been able to balance her public political life with her role as a wife and mother in a traditional African environment where women high-fliers are admired but still expected to retain low-profile positions at home.

Mujuru, now 49, joined Zimbabwe's liberation war movement at their military bases in neighbouring Mozambique in 1973 at the age of 18 and trained as a guerrilla fighter.

She fought in the war under the guerrilla name Teurai Ropa (spill blood), and then rose to become one of the first women commanders in Mugabe's ZANLA forces. In 1977 she married Solomon Mujuru -- known then as Rex Nhongo -- who was deputy commander-in-chief of ZANLA.

She continued to use the name Teurai Ropa Nhongo name after independence but later changed to Joyce Mujuru when her husband adopted his birth surname.

Mujuru was born in Zimbabwe's northeastern district of Mt Darwin, and had completed two years of secondary education when she decided to join the liberation war.

After Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, Mujuru became the youngest cabinet minister in Mugabe's government when she was appointed minister of women's affairs at age 25.

Since then Mujuru has held various cabinet portfolios, including a brief stint in the powerful position of defence minister.

She has also gone back to school and acquired a higher secondary school certificate and is currently studying for a degree in public administration.

Mujuru's elevation has created unprecedented tension in ZANU-PF, opposed by a number of top officials who felt the party was being hijacked by a faction bent on consolidating power in Zimbabwe's northern Mashonaland provinces.

"It's going to be very difficult for Mrs Mujuru's name to be seen outside this political saga, the impression is that she was imposed and a lot of people were purged to pave the way for her," Masunungure said.

Mugabe suspended seven party officials on Tuesday for allegedly attending a meeting convened by Information Minister Jonathan Moyo to push for Mnangagwa's candidature.

- REUTERS