Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF and the security fears shaping run-up to poll

Security fears are high in Zimbabwe after attack on President Mnangagwa's rally as country prepares to vote in July.

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe - Thousands of flag-waving supporters gathered on Wednesday at a stadium in Zimbabwe's northwestern mining town of Hwange to attend an election rally by President But they waited in vain.

For the first time since the launch of his campaign for the July 30 polls, Mnangagwa did not address a scheduled rally by the ruling ZANU-PF party. 

The non-show came a few days after Mnangagwa narrowly survived a grenade blast at another campaign rally held in a stadium at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city.

Mnangagwa has described the blast which claimed two lives and left 47 injured, including some of his top cadres - as an attempt to sabotage next month's landmark presidential and parliamentary elections.

The polls will be the first since the resignation of long-time President Robert Mugabe in November 2017 following a military intervention against the veteran leader's attempts to position his wife, Grace, for the presidency.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Mnangagwa claimed, without substantive evidence that leftovers within the ZANU-PF of the so-called G40 faction aligned to the Mugabes could be responsible for the blast.  

Jealousy Mawarire, the spokesperson for National Patriotic Front, a fledgling party with ties to the Mugabes, has dismissed Mnangagwa's "hunch" as false and baseless.

"He Mnangagwa is the one who is in control of the investigative state apparatus and up until he gets empirical evidence on what happened in Bulawayo, he should keep quiet," he said in a television interview.

Still, heightened security around Mnangagwa and questions over divisions within the ruling party has raised concerns about the political environment in the run-up to the vote.

According to Eldred Masunungure, a politics professor, a possible split could signal a deeper power struggle that could have a far-reaching effect. 

"This [blast] might be an isolated incident, but it shows the unfinished business of factionalism is a big issue for the ruling party. The remnants of the G40 faction are not outside, but within the so called new ZANU PF and they could continue to brew trouble for the president and the party," he told Al Jazeera.

This struggle between the losers and gainers from the events of last November might be a sign that divisions have not been completely extinguished and this could affect ZANU-PF beyond the elections," he said.