ZANU PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Patrick Chinamasa has firmly endorsed the elevation of controversial businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei into the ruling party’s Central Committee, a move widely interpreted as a strategic blow to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s efforts to block the appointment.
Tagwirei, a politically connected tycoon and close ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has long been a key financier of ZANU PF and one of its most influential behind-the-scenes power brokers. However, his deepening involvement in party affairs has stirred resistance within the ruling elite. Senior party leaders, including Chiwenga and ZANU PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa, have accused Tagwirei of fuelling factionalism, undermining internal discipline, and using his wealth to buy influence.
Despite this internal backlash, Chinamasa issued a strongly worded public statement on Sunday, declaring Tagwirei’s appointment “irreversibly settled.” He insisted that the co-option process had followed all party protocols and dismissed the objections raised by Chiwenga’s allies as baseless and driven by social media misinformation.
“There has been a lot of undeserved negative publicity around this issue,” Chinamasa said. “But let it be known that the Harare Provincial Coordinating Committee met on 31 March 2025 and unanimously recommended the co-option of Cde Kudakwashe Tagwirei into the Central Committee.”
He further revealed that the recommendation was approved at two Politburo meetings — one on 2 July and another on 30 July — both of which were chaired by Vice President Chiwenga himself. “In my nearly 38 years as a member of the Central Committee or Politburo, we have never had to debate PCC recommendations. They are treated as a fait accompli,” Chinamasa said, effectively dismissing Chiwenga’s later objections as politically motivated.
Chinamasa Backs Tagwirei’s Central Committee Appointment, Undermines Chiwenga’s Opposition
The timing and tone of Chinamasa’s intervention have been widely interpreted as a calculated rebuke to the Vice President, who just days earlier had taken dramatic steps to challenge Tagwirei’s growing influence in party structures.
During a closed-door meeting at ZANU PF Headquarters in Harare, Chiwenga reportedly ordered the return of 18 vehicles donated by Tagwirei to the Harare provincial leadership. He accused provincial officials, led by chairperson Goodwills Masimirembwa, of compromising the party’s founding principles in exchange for personal benefits.
“ZANU PF is not for sale,” Chiwenga is said to have warned during the meeting, invoking the sacrifices made during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle and condemning what he described as creeping corporate capture within the party.
Chiwenga also demanded the reinstatement of more than a dozen suspended youth league members accused of supporting his faction in the party’s escalating succession battle. Additionally, he levelled allegations against Masimirembwa, claiming that the Harare provincial offices had been turned into informal tuckshops and that he was personally collecting rent — charges to which Masimirembwa reportedly apologised.
However, not all party members are heeding Chiwenga’s directives. Political commissar Voyage Dambuza is reported to have dismissed the Vice President’s warnings as “baseless threats” in internal correspondence, reflecting the growing divide within the ZANU PF leadership.
The Tagwirei saga has become a flashpoint in the increasingly visible power struggle between Mnangagwa’s faction — buoyed by support from the business elite — and Chiwenga’s camp, which positions itself as the guardian of the party’s revolutionary legacy. With the next ZANU PF elective congress looming, both sides are maneuvering to consolidate power and secure their long-term influence.
Tagwirei’s formal entry into the Central Committee underscores Mnangagwa’s tightening grip on the party, and signals that his faction is intent on sidelining military-aligned traditionalists like Chiwenga. By backing Tagwirei, Chinamasa has thrown his lot in with Mnangagwa’s corporate-backed bloc, delivering a symbolic and political snub to the Vice President.
Analysts say the public nature of this dispute is rare for a party that typically handles internal disputes behind closed doors, and it reflects the high stakes involved in the current power dynamics.
“This is not just a fight over one man’s appointment,” said political analyst Vivid Gwede. “It’s a proxy war over who will control the future direction of the party — the old guard represented by Chiwenga, or the new, business-aligned power structure under Mnangagwa.”
For now, the Tagwirei appointment appears settled, but the fallout is far from over. As ZANU PF’s internal divisions deepen, the battle for dominance between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga is shifting from whispers in the corridors of power to open confrontation — with implications that could shape the future of both the party and the country.
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