Copyright myzimbabwe
As the battle to succeed President Emmerson Mnangagwa intensifies, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, once seemingly sidelined, has reportedly rebuilt his faction, drawing in generals, party barons, and old guard loyalists. Sources within Zanu PF suggest that key figures are now rallying behind Chiwenga, positioning him for a potential takeover in 2028. Once the formidable general who spearheaded the 2017 coup that toppled Robert Mugabe, Chiwenga appeared weakened after allies were forced out of the military or died in quick succession. Perrence Shiri, the air marshal who helped lead the November 2017 coup, and Sibusiso Moyo, its public face, both succumbed to Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021. Between 2017 and 2024, the deaths of several other high-ranking commanders dealt heavy blows to Chiwenga’s once formidable network. In the aftermath of the takeover, while Chiwenga was in China receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness, Mnangagwa moved to weaken him by removing his loyalists from the military and dispatching many as ambassadors abroad. After the disputed 2023 election, Mnangagwa purged Chiwenga’s allies from cabinet, replacing them with his own loyalists. However, barely six months ago, the vice president looked weakened and politically irrelevant. But Chiwenga has since regrouped. He issued warnings to the corrupt businessmen clustered around Mnangagwa, silenced talk within the president’s camp of extending his rule beyond 2030 and opened a direct battle with business mogul Kudakwashe Tagwirei, who is positioning himself as Mnangagwa’s successor. Here are some of the key figures now allegedly rallying behind Chiwenga on his path to State House: 1. Engelbert Rugeje: Rugeje played a pivotal role in the 2017 coup against Mugabe while serving as chief of staff of the Zimbabwe National Army. Promoted to lieutenant-general after the takeover, he was soon retired by Mnangagwa, part of the purge of Chiwenga’s allies. At Chiwenga’s urging, Rugeje was redeployed to ZANU-PF headquarters as national political commissar, an influential post within the party. As Mnangagwa moved to weaken Chiwenga’s influence, Rugeje was forced out in 2018 and replaced by Victor Matemadanda, a presidential loyalist. Today, Rugeje remains within the ruling party’s upper ranks as a member of the ZANU-PF politburo, quietly maintaining his alliance with Chiwenga. 2. Anselem Sanyatwe: Anselem Sanyatwe was a key player in the 2017 coup, commanding the elite Presidential Guard brigade that protects the president and secures the capital, Harare. A long-time ally of Chiwenga, their ties go beyond politics. Both are Catholics, friends since the liberation struggle, and Sanyatwe was closely involved in Chiwenga’s marriages, first to Mary Mubaiwa and later to Miniyothabo Baloyi, whose wedding in Borrowdale he attended with his wife, Chido. In 2019, Sanyatwe was forced into retirement after his Presidential Guard brigade shot dead six protesters during post-election unrest in Harare the previous year. Mnangagwa dispatched him to Tanzania as ambassador, where he remained until October 2023, when he made a dramatic return as commander of the Zimbabwe National Army. His comeback was short-lived. In March 2024, amid rising coup rumours and public calls by war veteran Blessed Geza for Mnangagwa to resign over corruption and economic mismanagement, the president abruptly dismissed Sanyatwe. He has since been redeployed as minister of sports, replacing Kirsty Coventry after her election as president of the International Olympic Committee. 3. Obert Mpofu: A former cabinet minister and now ZANU-PF secretary general, Mpofu has long been a loyal supporter of Chiwenga. He has played a critical role in blocking business mogul Tagwirei’s attempts to climb the party hierarchy, ruling in July that Tagwirei lacked the credentials to sit on the powerful central committee. Insiders say Mpofu is also firmly opposed to Mnangagwa’s backers who want to extend the president’s rule beyond 2030, aligning him squarely with Chiwenga’s camp. Political analyst Eldred Masunungure places Mpofu firmly within the old guard of liberation war veterans now squaring off against the so-called Young Turks. “The two are increasingly viscerally opposed to each other. Daggers are drawn and blood may spill on the march to the ZANU-PF Congress in 2027,” he says. That gathering is expected to be decisive, with the ruling party set to choose Mnangagwa’s successor at its elective congress. 4. Sithembiso Nyoni: A long-serving cabinet minister until her removal from the Environment portfolio in April, Nyoni now operates from ZANU-PF headquarters as a senior party figure. Insiders say she belongs to the old guard resisting Mnangagwa’s bid to extend his rule beyond 2030, and has emerged as a quiet but important backer of Chiwenga. 5. Sydney Sekeramayi: Sydney Sekeramayi, a former defence minister, shares a controversial history with Chiwenga. Both men are allegedly implicated in the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s – an estimated 20,000, mostly Ndebele civilians, were killed by the North Korean-trained 5th Brigade. On the eve of the 2017 coup, Sekeramayi and Chiwenga stood on opposite sides: Mugabe had favoured Sekeramayi as his successor, while Chiwenga threw his weight behind Mnangagwa. Now, the two men’s paths have converged. Hailing from the same Mashonaland East province, Sekeramayi chairs the ZANU-PF Elders Council, which advises the party leadership. Insiders say he is firmly opposed to extending Mnangagwa’s rule beyond 2030 and sees Chiwenga as the most viable way forward. 6. David Parirenyatwa: The former health minister also sits on the ZANU-PF Elders Council. Insiders say he belongs to the old guard, determined to prevent figures without liberation war credentials, such as businessman Tagwirei, from capturing power. Once aligned with Mugabe before the coup, Parirenyatwa has since gravitated toward Chiwenga’s camp. He is also rooted in the vice president’s Mashonaland East stronghold, where he long served as a member of parliament. 7. Kenneth Musanhi: The businessman and ZANU-PF politburo member is one of the most influential party figures in Mashonaland Central. Reelected as MP for Bindura North in 2023, he is regarded as a reliable ally of Chiwenga. Musanhi’s loyalty was evident in 2021, when he refused to back a ZANU-PF candidate in an internal poll, arguing the contender lacked Chiwenga’s endorsement. 8. Kazembe Kazembe: The Home Affairs minister and ZANU-PF chair for Mashonaland Central is counted among Chiwenga’s loyal foot soldiers in the province. Reelected as MP for Mazowe West in 2023, he is seen as a key grassroots organiser for the vice president. Though he has publicly voiced support for extending Mnangagwa’s term beyond 2028, insiders insist Kazembe is firmly in Chiwenga’s camp. 9. Mangaliso Ndlovu: The current minister of industry and ZANU-PF provincial chair for Matabeleland South is another figure said to be quietly aligned with Chiwenga. While Ndlovu has publicly backed extending Mnangagwa’s rule by two years, party insiders insist his true loyalties lie with the vice president, whom he holds in high regard. His liberation pedigree also runs deep: his father, Richard Ndlovu, was a ZANU-PF central committee member and a senior commander in the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army, the armed wing of ZAPU. 10. Godwin Gomwe: The former ZANU-PF Youth League chair for Harare remains one of Chiwenga’s fiercest loyalists. In 2019, local media reported that Chiwenga personally intervened to secure his release after police arrested him over the murder of two protesters during fuel price demonstrations. Although later expelled from the Youth League, Gomwe has continued to mobilise support from outside party structures. Earlier this year, he clashed with Mnangagwa’s supporters at the National Shrine during a hero’s burial, stepping in with his camp after Chiwenga was publicly humiliated, a move that underscored his role as the vice president’s street-level defender. Mliswa added that after many years mysteriously operating in obscurity while only dabbling in behind-the-scenes politics through financing the ruling Zanu PF and its leaders, prominent local business tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei has emerged out of the shadows to join active politics, aiming very high: The presidency. Although he denies presidential ambitions, many believe he wants the job if given a chance. His supporters say he should come in as he could be a generational bridge to the future and change Zanu PF’s leadership and policy direction to capture the bulging youth electorate. Tagwirei was recently co-opted into the Zanu PF’s decision-making Central Committee and may yet manoeuvre into the ruling party politburo and cabinet in his bid to lead the country, his supporters say. Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who is locked in a succession battle with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, tried to block him, but eventually failed. Tagwirei’s financial muscle prevailed. The internal dynamics within Zanu PF are further complicated by the position of President Mnangagwa’s spokesperson, George Charamba, who finds himself in a precarious situation. As Charamba (unedited) stated: “MY LAST WORD FOR THE DAY: If your politics subsists in investing in a wedge between ED and CDGN, think again. Haina bhobho storo iyoyo. Chindisiyai ndinyore Dissertation rangu!!!!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 THE PRESIDENT IN TWO MOVES THAT SURPRISED DELEGATES: First was his turning to Vice President’s wife for the pronounciation of a Ndebele word, promising the Vice President’s wife would ensure his Ndebele came right. He could have turned to Vice President Mohadi and new Secretary General Jacob Mudenda for the same. Delegates were visibly shocked by this turn of events. Second, before the end of the day’s closed business yesterday, the President turns to his deputy and tells him to finish the proceedings of the day as he retired!! By that act, the President literally delivered the Conference, which cheap commentators claimed had been staked against the Vice President, to the same Vice President to manage. Both actions sent a clear message to all delegates and functionaries. More substantively, the Vice President’s excellent speech introducing the President, and the President’s main address were coincident, sometimes to the extent to drawing from the same stock of metaphors and allusions when it came to ZANU PF’s history of sacrifices. It was amazing. Then, critically, when it came to CORRUPTION, a subject which the same cheap commentators framed as setting the two men on a collision course, both men were unsparing on the subject matter, with the President stressing ZANU PF would not be used as a haven for corrupt tendencies, but was sworn to people-centered development as CORRUPTION alienated PEOPLE FROM THE PARTY! He went further: he importuned the CONFERENCE to pronounce itself STRIDENTLY against CORRUPTION, a subject which the Vice President, referring to the LIBERATION ETHOS and its commitment to serving the MASSES, had dwelt on. Last but very SIGNIFICANTLY, both men hailed VISION 2030, eloquently interpreting it as focused on DELIVERING AN UPPER MIDDLE-INCOME ECONOMY to ALL ZIMBABWEANS! The President clinched it all by URGING THE PARTY AND ALL ITS ORGANS TO PREPARE FOR THE NEXT HARMONISED ELECTIONS, the THIRD TIME HE HAS MADE SUCH A CALL THIS YEAR. All that was set against a CLEAR COMMITMENT TO UPHOLDING THE PARTY CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS OF THE COUNTRY!!! Musandipikisa; ndaive ndigere padivi zvichitaurwa. Ndipo paari MADHARA EHOVHOROSI. Zvimwe handichatauri; mungafenda!!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣“ As the Zanu PF Congress in 2027 approaches, the political landscape remains fluid and uncertain. With factions vying for power and potential successors emerging, the future leadership of Zimbabwe remains a subject of intense speculation and intrigue.
