It is no longer a ZANU-PF factional fight, as many still assume. What is unfolding before our eyes has evolved far beyond the internal rivalries that have long defined the ruling party. Zimbabwe is facing a national crisis—a direct assault on constitutionalism, democracy, and the very idea of accountable governance. The narrative that this is merely an internal dispute between party factions is dangerously misleading. This is a coordinated project to consolidate absolute power around one man: President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
At the Party’s 22nd National People’s Conference, held amid pomp and propaganda, ZANU-PF’s Secretary for Legal Affairs, Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi, publicly declared that the party had unanimously resolved to extend President Mnangagwa’s rule beyond 2028. This announcement was not met with debate or dissent—it was met with applause and chants of loyalty. The message was clear: Mnangagwa is not preparing to step down after two constitutional terms. Instead, he intends to rewrite the rules to ensure he never has to.
more alarming was the simultaneous appointment of business magnate and long-time political benefactor Kuda Tagwirei to the ZANU-PF Central Committee. This move formalizes what many Zimbabweans have long suspected—the complete fusion of political power and corrupt capital. Tagwirei, whose business empire has been built on opaque deals and state patronage, now sits at the heart of political decision-making. This is not reform; it is the final stage of state capture, where the distinction between the state, the ruling party, and private enrichment disappears entirely.
It is no longer a Zanu-PF factional fight
These developments are not isolated events—they are the early steps in a broader and far more dangerous plan. The ruling party appears intent on mutilating the Constitution and dismantling the last remaining checks on executive power. Parliament has been neutralized, with a supermajority ready to rubber-stamp any constitutional amendment the leadership desires. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) remains compromised, the judiciary subdued, and the media under constant threat. In this context, ZANU-PF’s next move—to amend term limits and extend Mnangagwa’s rule—faces virtually no institutional resistance.
If left unchecked, Mnangagwa will become, in all but name, a monarch—King Munhumutapa IX, ruler of a captured republic. This is no longer about General Constantino Chiwenga, no longer about rival factions within the ruling elite. That chapter has closed. What we are now witnessing is a struggle for the soul of the nation itself.
The future of Zimbabwe no longer lies in the hands of politicians trading power within ZANU-PF’s corridors. It rests with ordinary citizens—the workers, students, churches, veterans, and even the few honest men and women still trapped within the party’s structures. The fight is no longer partisan; it is patriotic.
The resolutions passed at the conference celebrated Mnangagwa’s so-called “visionary leadership,” claiming he has brought stability and transformation. Yet the evidence of his rule tells a different story. Poverty deepens daily. Corruption has become institutionalized. Joblessness crushes the youth, and basic services have collapsed. Hospitals lack medicine, schools lack teachers, and citizens queue for bread and fuel as they did decades ago.
ZANU-PF’s latest resolution directs both the party and government to begin the legal and administrative process of extending Mnangagwa’s tenure—an ominous phrase that signals the drafting of constitutional amendments and the mobilization of propaganda machinery to justify the unjustifiable. The party is moving fast. That means citizens must act even faster.
This is the time for unity across political and generational divides. The struggle ahead is not about ideology—it is about the preservation of Zimbabwe’s democratic soul. Every citizen who values freedom must say, loudly and unequivocally:
NO to dictatorship.
NO to constitutional mutilation.
NO to another decade of corruption, fear, and suffering.
Our liberation heroes did not shed blood to establish a monarchy. The Constitution they envisioned was not designed to serve one man, his family, and his financiers. It was written to serve the people. Every generation reaches a point where silence becomes betrayal. For Zimbabwe, that moment is now.
Mnangagwa’s attempt to extend his rule represents not continuity, but collapse—the death of the dream of independence. If citizens fail to resist, the country risks entrenching a dynastic regime that will be even harder to dismantle in the future.
Zimbabwe stands at a crossroads. The choices made in the coming months will determine whether the nation reclaims its democratic promise or sinks into permanent authoritarianism. The baton has passed from the liberation generation to the citizens of today.
Let us defend our dignity, our Constitution, and our children’s future. The time for fear is over. The time for action—peaceful, united, and resolute—has arrived. Because this is no longer ZANU-PF’s fight. It is Zimbabwe’s fight.
Source – byo24
