HARARE – Former Zanu PF MP Temba Mliswa has sensationally claimed that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s recent push to have businessman Wicknell Chivayo arrested has little to do with fighting corruption and everything to do with a personal fallout over broken financial promises.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, Mliswa alleged that Chiwenga turned on Chivayo after the flamboyant tenderpreneur failed to honour lavish pledges made around the time of the vice president’s wedding to Miniyothabo Baloyi.
“From day one I argued that the VP’s move was steeped in politics and a revenge move rather than in actually fighting corruption,” Mliswa wrote. “The origin of this scandal was the alleged failure by Chivayo to fulfil one of many financial promises which he had made to the VP.”
According to Mliswa, Chiwenga had demanded six Rolls Royces and US$250,000 to fund wedding preparations, part of which Chivayo allegedly provided. On the wedding day itself, Mliswa claimed, the couple received another US$250,000, although only US$50,000 was publicly declared at Chiwenga’s request.
Mliswa further alleged that Chivayo bankrolled the couple’s honeymoon at the luxurious Four Seasons resort in Seychelles with US$250,000, before giving them R1 million for shopping in South Africa and another R1 million for the vice president to buy a gift for his wife.
He claimed the VP later requested US$450,000 to purchase three apartments for his children, who had to vacate his residence after his marriage. While US$300,000 was allegedly delivered, the outstanding US$150,000 became a sticking point.
“Over two months they had received over a US$1 million and this created the tension which ultimately led to what has been sold as an anti-corruption campaign to arrest Zvigananda,” Mliswa said, using the Shona slang term meaning politically connected businessmen who thrive on milking the state.
“A failure to promptly fulfil a financial promise is what irretrievably broke the relationship and has resulted in the sly move coined as an anti-corruption effort to arrest the former ally,” he added.
Mliswa himself has come under fire, with war veteran Blessed Geza last week accusing him of receiving cash from Mnangagwa allies to fight Chiwenga. Without naming his sources, Mliswa insisted his information “can be proven and stands up to the rigorous test of truth in a court.”
The claims add a dramatic twist to Zanu PF’s escalating succession battles, where Chiwenga has positioned himself as the face of a clean-up campaign targeting “corrupt cartels” linked to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Chivayo, a close Mnangagwa ally, has controversially won a string of multi-million-dollar government contracts in energy, health and defence procurement.
Neither Chiwenga nor Chivayo immediately responded to Mliswa’s allegations.
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