Zanu PF has summoned its politburo to an urgent meeting this Wednesday, a move that insiders say underscores the deepening factional unease within the ruling party following President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s latest public engagement in Mashonaland Central.
The official notice, issued by party spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa, instructs senior party officials to gather at Zanu PF headquarters on 27 August 2025. While the communiqué was framed as routine party business, political observers argue the extraordinary timing betrays growing anxiety over the optics of Mnangagwa’s event in Mazowe West — and the storm it has unleashed within the party.
At the centre of the controversy is a promotional poster that circulated widely in the run-up to the President’s title deeds distribution programme. The flier prominently featured businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei’s image — displayed in a larger, more dominant format than Mnangagwa’s own. It also promised that Tagwirei would “give out two Ford Ranger trucks” during the event. By contrast, Mnangagwa’s portrait appeared secondary, leaving many within Zanu PF unsettled by the implications.
To critics, the poster suggested that the event was less about empowering beneficiaries through land title deeds and irrigation kits, and more about projecting a joint political front between the President and his billionaire ally.
The symbolism was not lost on party insiders. For years, speculation over Mnangagwa’s succession has been tightly bound to his relationship with Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who was widely viewed as his natural heir after the 2017 coup that ended Robert Mugabe’s rule. Tagwirei’s rising prominence is therefore being interpreted as a deliberate snub to the Chiwenga-aligned faction of the party, which continues to wield influence through military and security structures.
The backlash was swift. The Zanu PF Patriots social media account issued a rare public rebuke, describing the flier as “highly inappropriate and misleading.” The account stressed that “this is a Presidential event, and it is unacceptable to position Tagwirei above the President.”
Behind closed doors, however, anger runs deeper than a single poster. Analysts note that Mnangagwa has gradually eroded the influence of Chiwenga’s camp by surrounding himself with businessmen, technocrats, and loyalists who owe their political survival directly to him. Among this network, Tagwirei has emerged as the most visible — and controversial — symbol of Mnangagwa’s shifting power base.
“In Zanu PF, symbols are power,” one Harare-based political analyst observed. “An oversized image on a poster is not a mistake. It is a signal. Mnangagwa is reminding everyone that his financial backers matter more now than the military bloc that once carried him to State House.”
This backdrop sets the stage for what is expected to be a tense politburo session on Wednesday. Although the agenda has not been disclosed, party insiders predict that issues of protocol, image management, and the growing role of wealthy businessmen in shaping the party’s direction will dominate the discussions.
Zanu PF Convenes Urgent Politburo Meeting as Mnangagwa-Tagwirei Alliance Stirs Factional Tensions
Meanwhile, the Mazowe West programme itself has been overshadowed by the controversy. On paper, the event was meant to demonstrate Mnangagwa’s commitment to economic empowerment, with the President personally handing out 1,000 title deeds and launching smallholder irrigation kits, largely targeted at war veterans. Yet instead of reinforcing his credentials as a leader delivering tangible benefits, the spectacle has fuelled perceptions of a party consumed by succession battles and competing centres of power.
Observers warn that the fallout from the poster saga may have longer-term consequences. While Mnangagwa has appeared determined to consolidate power by sidelining rivals, his moves risk deepening fractures within Zanu PF at a time when the party faces mounting economic challenges and growing public discontent. For Chiwenga’s backers, Tagwirei’s apparent elevation is seen as evidence that the President intends to bypass the traditional military-aligned pathway of succession in favour of a business-oriented clique more beholden to him personally.
The stakes could not be higher. As one senior party member put it, “These meetings are never really about posters. They are about who comes after Mnangagwa, and what price we all pay for that transition.”
Whether Wednesday’s politburo gathering will soothe tensions or expose them further remains an open question. What is clear, however, is that Mnangagwa’s grip on his party is increasingly contested, and even carefully stage-managed empowerment programmes risk becoming flashpoints in a broader struggle for Zanu PF’s future.
For many ordinary Zimbabweans watching from the sidelines, the developments in Mazowe have reinforced a familiar narrative: that elite rivalries, rather than policy delivery, continue to dominate the ruling party’s agenda. And as the politburo prepares to convene, the question lingers — is Mnangagwa tightening his hold on power, or simply revealing the fragility of the coalition that has sustained him since 2017?
Source- ZimEye
