Zimbabwe's Succession Plan Clarifies

Questions about Zimbabwe's presidential succession have been clarified. According to Stratfor sources, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken on a larger role in the governance of the country and will likely take full control once 91-year-old Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe dies.

Competition over succession has tinted Zimbabwean politics for many years, but Mnangagwa has undertaken a larger role in ruling the country than has any preceding vice president or government leader: Former Vice President Joice Mujuru never had the amount of influence over state affairs that her successor now has. Mnangagwa, who also serves as minister of justice and who was formerly a minister of defense and chief of the country's intelligence organization, has experience and knowledge of Zimbabwe's security and economic affairs. He is also well versed in the politics of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party.