MUTARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy, Constantino Chiwenga, projected an image of unity at the Zanu PF annual conference in Mutare on Friday, after days of damaging leaks suggested their relationship had reached breaking point.
For weeks, whispers within the ruling party painted a picture of a deepening feud between the two men. Chiwenga had used a politburo meeting on September 17 to criticise what he said was Mnangagwa’s quiet encouragement of moves by his supporters to amend the constitution and extend his rule to 2030 from 2028. He also accused the president of protecting allies he alleged were corrupt and “bleeding the nation.”
Mnangagwa responded with fury at a politburo meeting on Tuesday, just days before the conference which concludes on Saturday.
The president’s loyalists — Oppah Muchinguri, Patrick Chinamasa, Ziyambi Ziyambi, Fredrick Shava and Chris Mutsvangwa — lined up to attack Chiwenga, with Ziyambi accusing him of unchecked ambition and even calling him “treasonous.”
By the end of that meeting, many believed Chiwenga’s political career was in terminal decline, and that the Mutare conference would mark his political waterloo.
Yet, before thousands of delegates on Friday, Mnangagwa and Chiwenga appeared aligned. Chiwenga, a retired general, introduced the Zanu PF leader with a speech that mirrored the president’s own language and tone, both men leaning heavily on liberation war imagery and calls for party discipline.
Government spokesman Ndavaningi Mangwana posted a picture of Mnangagwa conferring with Chiwenga, writing on X: “Here, a robust debate is part of a vigorous democratic process. Healthy contestation is a tradition, not a threat. Don’t get excited.”
Presidential spokesman George Charamba described “two moves that surprised delegates.” The first, he said, was Mnangagwa turning to Chiwenga’s wife for help with a Ndebele pronunciation — even though Vice President Kembo Mohadi and new Secretary-General Jacob Mudenda were present.
“Delegates were visibly shocked,” Charamba noted.
The second came when Mnangagwa handed the reins of the day’s proceedings to Chiwenga before retiring for the evening.
“By that act, the president literally delivered the conference — which commentators claimed was stacked against the vice president — to the same vice president to manage,” Charamba wrote.
Charamba also pointed out that both men were “coincident” in their speeches, especially on corruption — the very issue that had supposedly set them at odds.
“Corruption, corruption, corruption, of any kind, has no place among the rank and file of the party membership and indeed, in our country. It is cancerous to the ongoing national development agenda,” Mnangagwa said.
“To achieve the modern, prosperous society we envision, we must cleanse ourselves from retrogressive tendencies such as corruption, self-centredness, economic sabotage, indiscipline and immorality. The party should never be a haven for any of these vices.”
Significantly, Mnangagwa also appeared to shut the door on any term-extension talk, reaffirming that elections would be held in 2028. Charamba noted that it was the third time the president had said so publicly.
“Focus must be on guaranteeing the growth of our party membership in readiness for the harmonised general elections,” Mnangagwa said.
A veteran of Zimbabwe’s factional politics, Mnangagwa is known for signalling left and turning right. Whether this latest display of unity truly marks a reconciliation with his deputy remains uncertain. But through his words and gestures, the president appeared to give his followers a clear message: for now, Chiwenga remains firmly inside the tent — and the cockpit of Zanu PF is steady once more.
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