Summary I am not greater than the people who gave birth to me: President Robert Mugabe
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe s ruling party on Saturday wrapped up a key congress once again anointing veteran President Robert Mugabe as party leader and putting his wife Grace on a path to follow him into power.
"I want to thank you profoundly for once again choosing me to lead you," Mugabe told the thousands of cheering supporters at the ZANU-PF s elective congress.
"I know where I come from... I am not greater than the people who gave birth to me," said the 90-year-old who has been in power in Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.
The congress also elected his wife 49-year-old Grace to head the party s powerful women s wing, which would put her higher among the contenders to succeed Mugabe.
She had won a surprise nomination in August to lead the women s league and has made no secret of her ambition to clinch the southern African country s top job.
For now her husband plans to hold onto that position as party delegates also chose Mugabe to stand as the ZANU-PF candidate in the next elections in 2018.
On Wednesday, the firebrand leader had slapped down speculation he would stand down as "foolish" and "idiotic".
He drew a line under years of unrest within the ruling ZANU-PF, which have seen key lieutenants jockey for position in anticipation that his days in power are coming to an end.
On Saturday when Mugabe announced his wife s new role in the party it was met with tepid applause that led party chairman Simon Khaya Moyo to exhort the crowd to cheer louder.
"We need a bigger applause," he said, and the delegates began shouting, "Amai! Amai!" (Mother! Mother!).
Grace Mugabe had waged a fierce campaign for the women s league post, which also puts her on the party s steering committee, disparaging her rivals including Vice-President Joice Mujuru whom she has accused of corruption and even plotting to assassinate her husband.
Mujuru, 59, widow of the country s first black army chief, did not attend the congress after failing to win a seat on the party s central committee.
With Mujuru apparently out of the succession race, eyes have turned back to 68-year-old Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He was himself the victim of a purge in 2004 when he lost a key ZANU-PF job after being charged for excessive ambition while angling for the post of vice president which Mujuru then won.
ZANU-PF has been riven by factionalism over Mugabe s succession for years, with the Zimbabwean strongman avoiding naming a successor.
