HARARE – Zanu PF is locked in a bruising internal power struggle after President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s attempt to reshuffle the party’s leadership triggered open defiance from one of his most senior officials.
On Tuesday, party spokesman Christopher Mutsvangwa announced that Obert Mpofu, the long-serving secretary general, had been moved to a lesser role as secretary for information communication technology, with Jacob Mudenda, the Speaker of Parliament, taking over as secretary general. But within 48 hours, it was evident that the change was not being accepted quietly.
On Thursday, Mudenda wrote a letter to Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Martin Rushwaya, notifying him that the late comedian and radio personality Babongile Sikhonjwa had been accorded a state-assisted funeral.
On the same day, Mpofu countered with his own letter — complete with a Zanu PF headquarters date stamp of September 25, 2025 — informing Rushwaya that the late John Gowa had been declared a liberation hero and would be buried in Mt Darwin.
Mpofu signed off the correspondence in his old title as “secretary general,” openly ignoring the announcement that he had been stripped of the role.
The spectacle of duelling letters has laid bare the scale of the rift inside Zanu PF, raising questions over who truly controls the party machinery. The secretary general’s office is one of the most powerful in the ruling party, responsible for the day-to-day running of its structures, and Mpofu’s refusal to step aside signals that a full-blown showdown is brewing.
Party insiders say Mpofu, a close ally of vice president Constantino Chiwenga, is under pressure from within their camp to dig in. Chiwenga’s position as front runner to succeed Mnangagwa, whose term expires in 2028, is being threatened by a push by the president’s loyalists to extend his term beyond constitutional limits.
The standoff has been further inflamed by a legal opinion from top lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu, who insists that the reshuffle was unconstitutional. In a written analysis of the Zanu PF constitution, Mpofu argued that the provisions cited in Mutsvangwa’s announcement do not give the president or the spokesman the authority to reassign politburo members.
He said the title used by Mutsvangwa — “Secretary for Information and Publicity and Party Spokesperson” — does not even exist in the party constitution, and therefore any communication bearing it has “no legal effect.”
Advocate Mpofu went further, stressing that nothing in the party’s governing document empowers the first secretary (president) to make unilateral changes to key offices outside a congress.
“A power not enshrined in the constitution cannot lawfully be exercised,” he wrote, adding that until the matter is properly resolved, “it’s back to original settings.”
The dispute risks paralysing basic administrative functions of the party. With both Mudenda and Mpofu issuing official-looking communications to government departments, there is confusion over whose directives to follow.
The fight for the control of the secretary general’s office could determine which faction sets the agenda as the party heads towards a turbulent future. The party will hold its annual conference from October 13 to 18.
