Former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa and at least one other senior official made last-minute overtures to President Mugabe in a bid to land a seat in the 300-member Central Committee.
Cde Mutasa — whose curriculum vitae was rejected by the zanu-pf Manicaland provincial executive — was plotting to unseat President Mugabe, resulting in his candidature being turned down.
It is understood he wanted Cde Mugabe to pick him among the 10 Central Committee Presidential appointees.
The other official (name supplied) is understood to have indicated his remorse for his involvement in the factional plot to replace the ruling party’s First Secretary with his deputy, Vice President Joice Mujuru.
He was yesterday confirmed as a Central Committee member. The President yesterday disclosed that Cde Mutasa telephoned him from South Africa where the Presidential Affairs Minister said he was being treated for an undisclosed ailment.
The President said Cde Mutasa explained that he missed the congress due to the illness.
The minister said his condition had improved but his wife also fell sick and he wanted to take her to India for specialist treatment, added President Mugabe.