Emmerson Mnangagwa is nicknamed 'the Crocodile' partly for his ability to snap after long periods of log-like but watchful inertia...
Manicaland thus slipped out of Emmerson Mnangagwa's orbit where many thought it belonged...
His own ZANU-PF is in crisis in the lead up to its December congress with open warfare between the Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa factions battling to succeed Mugabe...
With Matebeleland divided and the remainder split between the Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa factions the permutations are endless...
Several Politburo members have failed to block the move which is seen as a victory for Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa in his quest to succeed President Robert Mugabe...
The candidates for his post were both from Midlands; Emmerson Mnangagwa's supporter Edison Chakanyuka beat Anastancia Ndhlovu a member of Parliament linked to Joice Mujuru's faction...
Some blame Emmerson Mnangagwa's supporters others Didymus Mutasa (74) and his one-man mass movement...
In ZANU-PF'S internal struggle both provinces are in the camp that follows Emmerson Mnangagwa; around the Chipinge district of southern Manicaland the Shangaan-Ndau people had remained unswervingly loyal to Mugabe's predecessor as party leader the late Ndabaningi Sithole offering the MDC a base on which it swept all but four of the province's seats last year...
President Robert Mugabe regards him as dependable and studiously neutral in the factional fighting between supporters of the former Zimbabwe Defence Forces chief General (retired) Solomon Mujuru and current Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa...
Didymus Mutasa rules the roost in Manicaland; Nathan Shamuyarira in Mashonaland West; David Karimanzira in Harare; Emmerson Mnangagwa in the Midlands; Stan Mudenge in Masvingo; and John Nkomo in Matebeleland...
Meanwhile the case docket on a rhinoceros horn-trading prosecution in which Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Information Minister Webster Shamu were to give evidence has disappeared in the Prosecutor's office...