Harare – Zimbabwean Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is widely believed to want to succeed President Robert Mugabe, has said that Zimbabwe needed “leaders of integrity” according to a report.

Mnangagwa told hundreds of Christians meeting for a prayer breakfast in Harare that the country’s leaders “should continue upholding justice, honesty and peace”, according to the state-runSunday Mail newspaper.

“Our job as leaders is to shepherd the country with integrity,” Mnangagwa was reported as saying.

He did not offer any criticism of Mugabe, whose leadership the vice president described as “astute”.

Nicknamed “the Crocodile”, Mnangagwa has been a powerful force in Zimbabwean politics for years. But he was only named Mugabe’s deputy in December 2014 after a tumultuous shake-up in the upper ranks of government and the ruling Zanu-PF party that saw the then vice presidentJoice Mujuru deposed.

Her ousting is suspected to have been organised by supporters of Mnangagwa. But it also apparently had the support of Grace Mugabe, the president’s much younger wife. Though she denies it publicly, there is suspicion she may also have presidential ambitions. The privately-ownedStandard newspaper on Sunday said Grace Mugabe was Mnangagwa’s “new headache”.

Meanwhile, Mujuru herself appears anything but down-and-out on the political front, having recently published a statement in the press that hinted she is soon to form her own party.

Mnangagwa last month said there was no guarantee he would succeed Mugabe.