HARARE – Zimbabwe’s ruling party is reeling from an extraordinary confrontation after Vice President Constantino Chiwenga accused petroleum magnate Kudakwashe Tagwirei of looting billions of dollars from Zanu PF to buy influence and capture the party, ZimLive can reveal.
The explosive allegations were laid bare during a stormy politburo meeting on Wednesday, the last before the party’s annual conference next month. According to insiders, Chiwenga marched into the meeting armed with a dossier that stunned many in the room of nearly 50 members.
He claimed that Tagwirei siphoned at least US$3.2 billion through Zanu PF’s shadowy stake in Sakunda Holdings — an investment few had ever heard of. The 45 percent shareholding, allegedly set up during Robert Mugabe’s presidency, was supposedly held in trust by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President Kembo Mohadi, and party legal secretary Patrick Chinamasa.
But instead of the party reaping dividends, Chiwenga charged, Tagwirei diverted the billions to fund loyalty networks within Zanu PF, funneled largely through flashy benefactors such as Wicknell Chivayo and gold dealer Scott Sakupwanya. GeoPomona boss Delish Nguwaya was also named as a key player.
“He said the party had never received a cent,” one source recounted. “Instead, Tagwirei was using what was essentially Zanu PF’s money to capture its structures, with the complicity of the trustees.”
Chiwenga reportedly demanded the immediate arrest of Tagwirei, Chivayo, Sakupwanya and Nguwaya — a moment that left the politburo in “quiet astonishment.”
The vice president did not spare Mnangagwa himself, accusing the president of being the ultimate beneficiary of Tagwirei’s largesse. Chiwenga raged that Chivayo’s high-profile handouts — including last week’s donation of 10 luxury vehicles and US$1 million to provincial chairmen — were evidence of the rot.
In a curious twist, presidential spokesman George Charamba rushed to clarify that the vehicles were party property, contradicting Chivayo’s boast that they were “personal” gifts — a position that appeared to support Chiwenga’s argument.
The exchanges grew even sharper when state security minister Lovemore Matuke accused Chiwenga of plotting to seize power by force. Chiwenga snapped back, reminding Matuke of his liberation war record and loyalty to the party. He even dared him to ask Mnangagwa “who got him out of the country in 2017 when Mugabe had fired him?”
Chiwenga, according to the source, said if he removed Mugabe and invited Mnangagwa back to lead from his South Africa exile, “what makes Matuke think he now wants to remove him undemocratically?”
Mnangagwa, clearly unsettled, announced that a committee of Obert Mpofu, Oppah Muchinguri and Chinamasa would investigate Chiwenga’s claims. Yet by Thursday, sources said the president was mulling whether to cancel his scheduled trip to the United Nations General Assembly to manage the escalating crisis.
The drama spilled into the following day. In a breach of tradition, Mnangagwa pointedly avoided the customary pre-briefing with Chiwenga and Mohadi before a central committee meeting at the party headquarters. Instead, he headed straight to the main hall, forcing his deputies to “scramble downstairs” to catch up with him.
During his speech, Mnangagwa appeared to row back from declarations by some of his loyalists, led by Daniel Garwe, that there would be no elections in 2028.
“It is therefore of critical importance that we introspect as a party, not only with regards to our short term activities, but in view of the bigger objective that our party wins the 2028 harmonised general elections,” he said.
The clash has laid bare Zanu PF’s deepest fault lines: Chiwenga, long seen as Mnangagwa’s inevitable successor, is resisting efforts to extend Mnangagwa’s presidency beyond 2028. Meanwhile, Mnangagwa’s loyalists — many fearing arrest by a Chiwenga government — are pushing for him to stay in power, with some touting the sanctioned Tagwirei as a possible successor.
For now, both camps appear entrenched. As Zanu PF heads into its October conference in Mutare, the confrontation has set the stage for a bruising power struggle at the very heart of the party.
