A Zimbabwean opposition party that was reportedly backed by former president Robert Mugabe has since been hit by divisions, according to a report.

According to Daily News, the newly formed National Patriotic Front (NPF) was hit by division after an accusation that its founding leader retired brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri was incompetent.

Well-placed sources within the party have said that there were serious ructions within the new political outfit, with Mugabe’s wife Grace and her senior generation40 backers saying the ex-military brigadier lacked the capacity and energy of leading the party.

The Grace Mugabe backers believed that Mutinhiri was incapable of going toe to toe with the main opposition, Movement for Democratic Change alliance and also taking on the ruling Zanu-PF party during the forthcoming elections.

The former army brigadier, who quit Zanu-PF earlier this year to protest the removal of Mugabe, was reported to be the leader of the new political party.

State media said that Mutinhiri, a veteran of the 1970s war against white minority, had Mugabe’s backing.

Mutinhiri resigned from parliament recently, citing the military intervention that pressured 94-year-old Mugabe into stepping down in November as his reason for cutting ties with the ruling Zanu-PF party.

The party’s spokesperson, Jealous Mawarire, has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government of peddling lies, adding that he had not heard anyone complain about the former military strongman’s leadership.

“We have all our feet on the ground and our hands on the wheel. We will shake the regime in a big way and will certainly save our people from the shackles put on them on November 15, 2017.  We will send Mnangagwa and his fellow coup organisers out of government through the harmonised elections this year,” Mawarire was quoted as saying.