THE struggle in Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu (PF) to inherit the mantle of power from President Robert Mugabe has spread from the political battleground to the state-owned media.

Publications such as The Herald and Sunday Mail once filled their pages with vitriol directed at the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC. They attacked critics of the president, covering the government’s own shortcomings with thundering editorials about the threat of neocolonialism and other distractions.

The ruling party was out of bounds for journalists employed by the state.

Now it is open season.

There are different theories about why the ruling party is turning on itself. One is the succession battle between factions jockeying for their candidate to succeed Mugabe.

These factions are using the state media to discredit each other by selectively exposing corruption linked to their opponents.

Officials are trying to paint these disclosures as an attack on corruption in principle. But it is hard not to believe this is not being driven by political expedience, particularly as many of the scandals being aired are not new.

Bribes sought by ministers, the activities of the diamond mining companies that have been unaccountable to the nation for years, dodgy infrastructure projects and others are all in the spotlight.

Another theory is that the state is looking for scapegoats to blame for the poor condition of its finances.

It seems as if state-owned enterprises are the target in this regard.

Once protected by the ruling party despite the fact they were mismanaged, inefficient, and were a drain on an ailing fiscus during the darkest days of the economy, the state continued to support them.

They were a key source of patronage and control for Zanu (PF).

But now the gloves are off. Earlier this year, the state caused a furore by disclosing that managers of parastatals were earning obscene salaries.

In one case, the manager of the country’s biggest medical aid society was "found" to be earning $535,000 (R5.3m) a month, with benefits, while the organisation was in debt to service providers and in arrears with tax.

Those exposed include entities that have struggled to pay workers even while paying ridiculous salaries to managers. The saga has been dubbed "salarygate" by a furious public. The minister has now capped salaries of managers in state-owned enterprises and local authorities at R60,000.

But many believe the government is not acting to rein in graft because it is the right thing to do, but because it needs to find money to pay public servants’ salaries — an increasing concern. Public servants, estimated at 230,000 people, swallow up almost 75% of the state’s monthly revenues.

The government is already struggling to pay their salaries, and paid them several days late this month.

It is now under pressure to implement a significant pay hike promised by Mugabe during last year’s election campaign. The deadline for the new packages has been shifted from February to April. But it will take a miracle to meet this new deadline.

The lack of liquidity in Zimbabwe is not only the state’s problem.

I attended a number of results presentations last week at which a lack of liquidity was raised by companies as a significant issue affecting their performance and future planning.

The number of retrenchments is rising rapidly. Last year, more than 120 companies applied to the Retrenchment Board for permission to shed workers, and trade unions say nearly 10,000 were laid off. The trend has continued this year. Economists say Zimbabwe is operating at a third of its capacity. The government’s economic recovery programme has been widely panned as being unworkable, and investor confidence is low.

And while the government casts around for miracles, the public servants, a key plank of Zanu (PF)’s support base, are getting restive.