ZANU PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa has been covertly recorded making damning remarks about Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, describing him as cruel, unelectable, and uneducated. The leaked audio, released by UK-based investigative unit Dug Up, has further exposed the deepening factional battles within Zimbabwe’s ruling party.
The recording provides insight into the escalating power struggle between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Chiwenga, a former army general who played a pivotal role in toppling the late President Robert Mugabe in November 2017. Once a key ally of Mnangagwa, Chiwenga’s presidential ambitions have now placed him in direct conflict with the incumbent and other senior party figures, including Mutsvangwa.
According to Mutsvangwa, the rift between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga revolves around the next ZANU PF elective congress, where Chiwenga is reportedly seeking an unchallenged endorsement as party leader and presidential candidate for the 2028 elections. However, Mnangagwa is said to be insisting on a competitive election to determine the party’s leadership.
“This guy wants to be anointed as the President’s successor,” Mutsvangwa is heard saying in the audio. “He wants to remove him, but while in the process of removing him, he is saying the President should anoint him. How do you do that?”
Mutsvangwa added that Mnangagwa is determined to uphold democratic principles within the party, unlike Mugabe, who handpicked his deputies.
In the recording, Mutsvangwa further criticises Chiwenga’s leadership prospects, citing his controversial treatment of his ex-wife, Marry Mubaiwa. Mubaiwa, who suffers from acute lymphoedema and has undergone multiple amputations, has faced prolonged legal battles and been denied the opportunity to seek medical treatment abroad. She has also been barred from seeing her children.
“Can you imagine? Half of the electorate are women in this country, and you have decapitated the limbs of your former wife through cruelty. You are refusing her the right to see her children, including the ones she came to you with,” Mutsvangwa remarked.
He suggested that Chiwenga’s treatment of Mubaiwa had tarnished his public image, making him an unpopular choice among female voters. “He reeks of cruelty against all women in the country. He cannot win, so he does not want elections, but the President has upended him and told him to sell himself to the electorate,” he added.
Mutsvangwa, a former diplomat and presidential advisor, also questioned Chiwenga’s educational qualifications and intellectual capacity, claiming that he lacks academic credibility.
“If you want to know that a Shona-speaking person did not go to school, ask them to pronounce the letter ‘L’,” he stated. “The letter R comes from the mother, the L comes from a teacher. That is the basic litmus test of an illiterate Shona person. He never managed to graduate from the mother’s alphabet. Going to war is no substitute for illiteracy and ignorance. We went to war from universities.”
Unverified reports have long suggested that an informal agreement existed between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga, wherein the latter was promised the presidency after the former. However, this alleged pact, already strained by events in 2023, appears to be facing renewed challenges as the 2028 elections approach.
Mutsvangwa’s comments highlight a growing division within ZANU PF, with factional lines becoming increasingly pronounced. As speculation over Mnangagwa’s future intensifies, and with some party members calling for a constitutional amendment to extend his tenure beyond 2028, the battle for Zimbabwe’s leadership remains far from settled.
The full investigation, presented by journalist Maynard Manyowa, is available on YouTube, shedding further light on the internal conflicts within the ruling party.
