BULAWAYO- Zimba­bwe’s Zanu-PF par­ty has started the search for a Vice- President to replace Joseph Msika who died in August. A vice-president in the party auto­matically becomes a vice president in government. The party’s Sec­retary for Admin­istration Didymus Mutasa yesterday said the late Vice- President Msika’s successor should be a cadre who had been occupying a senior position in the revolutionary party for a long pe­riod.

Mutasa also re­vealed that he had not yet received the 9 October rec­ommendations by the Matabeleland provinces for the Politburo to allow all the party’s 10 provinces to nomi­nate the next Vice- President. In an interview Mutasa said in the case of more than three candidates being nominated from Matabeleland provinces, the party would select a per­son who had been occupying a senior position in the ruling party for the longest period.

The disclosure of the criteria by e Mu­tasa puts Zanu-PF National Chairman John Landa Nkomo as the favourite to land the VP’s post ahead of other con­tenders such as Sen­ate Deputy presi­dent Naison Khut­shwekhaya Ndlovu, Bulawayo Resident Minister Cain Ginyil­itshe Mathema and former Zipra Chief of Staff Retired Brig­adier-General Am­brose Mutinhiri.

The names of Zim­babwe’s Ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo and Min­ister of Mines and Mining Development Obert Moses Mpo­fu have also been touted as being other cadres in the race. - The Chronicle.