HARARE – Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU PF, is facing renewed criticism amid claims that controversial businessmen accused of corruption and gold smuggling have been elevated into influential provincial structures, sparking fears of a return to the conditions that prompted the 2017 Operation Restore Legacy.
Sources within the party say businessman Joachim Chivhayo, who has previously faced allegations of gold smuggling, has been incorporated into the Harare Provincial structures of ZANU PF. He is reportedly joined by Kuda Tagwirei, a politically connected businessman accused of benefiting from opaque state-linked deals and corruption.
The appointments have triggered outrage among party loyalists and political observers, who warn that the same elements once described as “counter-revolutionary thugs”—and blamed for hijacking the party’s liberation values—are regaining influence within ZANU PF.
Operation Restore Legacy, the 2017 military-assisted transition that ousted the late former President Robert Mugabe, was launched under the pretext of cleansing the party of corruption and restoring revolutionary discipline. However, analysts argue that recent developments point to the re-emergence of the same culture of greed and patronage.
Political analyst Dr. Tendai Runhanga said the developments show that the spirit of the 2017 intervention has been “betrayed by a new generation of politically connected elites who have captured the party’s structures for personal enrichment.”
“If the ruling party continues to accommodate such figures, it risks losing whatever moral legitimacy Operation Restore Legacy claimed to have restored,” he added.
Critics say the growing dominance of business elites in political structures has blurred the line between politics and profiteering, threatening to deepen internal factionalism and undermine public confidence in the party’s commitment to reform.
As ZANU PF prepares for upcoming internal elections, questions continue to mount over whether the ruling party has truly learned from its past—or whether history, once again, is repeating itself.
In 2024, Joachim Chivayo, and 20-year-old South African citizen Ayanda Brian Gungwa were arrested in South Africa on for the unlawful possession of gold worth R15 million.
Joachim is the young brother of controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo.
The two men were charged with illegal possession of gold and violating the Precious Metals Act. The case was registered at the Brakpan police station.
