HARARE – In a dramatic escalation of ZANU–PF’s simmering succession war, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has stripped long-time power broker Dr Obert Mpofu of the pivotal Secretary-General post, shunting the veteran politician to the relatively obscure ICT portfolio.
Mpofu is widely regarded as Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s closest ally inside the party, and his demotion is being read as a calculated strike at Mnangagwa’s chief rival.
The move follows two weeks of unprecedented turbulence. Vice-President Chiwenga recently tabled a blistering anti-corruption dossier accusing Mnangagwa’s inner circle of siphoning billions of dollars from state coffers, naming billionaire Kudakwashe Tagwirei—rumoured to be Mnangagwa’s preferred successor—as a central figure. The allegations have shaken ZANU–PF to its core and laid bare the depth of mistrust between the party’s two dominant factions.
Mnangagwa, who was expected to travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, abruptly cancelled his trip after intelligence briefings warned that his absence could invite a coup or swift arrests of key allies. Sources inside the security establishment say the President has become increasingly anxious, haunted by the spectre of the 2017 military-backed ouster of Robert Mugabe that first brought him to power.
Against this fraught backdrop, the Politburo reshuffle announced by party spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa hands Mnangagwa’s confidants the levers of internal control. Parliamentary Speaker Jacob Mudenda, a loyalist, moves into the powerful Secretary-General role once held by Mpofu, placing him at the heart of ZANU–PF’s administrative machinery.
Patrick Chinamasa, another Mnangagwa ally, shifts from legal affairs to the critical Treasurer-General’s office, giving the President a trusted hand over party finances. Ziyambi Ziyambi, formerly in charge of ICT, takes over legal affairs, reinforcing the Mnangagwa faction’s dominance of strategic portfolios.
While the official statement frames the changes as routine constitutional adjustments, opposition figures and independent analysts say the purge underscores a President under siege and willing to redraw the party’s hierarchy to protect his position. “This is not governance; it’s survival,” said one opposition legislator.
“Mnangagwa is fortifying his faction while Zimbabweans face economic collapse and political paralysis.”
The demotion of Mpofu weakens Chiwenga’s camp but also risks further destabilising a ruling party already riven by suspicion and competing ambitions. With both factions entrenched and the stakes rising, Zimbabwe faces a period of heightened political volatility that could spill far beyond ZANU–PF’s walls and into the nation’s fragile economy and civic life.
