By Political Reporter- Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa has blocked Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s ambitions of succeeding the party’s current President, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa is serving his second and final term and is expected to hand over power to Chiwenga at both the party and national levels.

However, Mutsvangwa, who also harbours presidential ambitions, stated that succession plans still need to be discussed.

Mutsvangwa made this statement while addressing journalists after the party’s secretary general, Obert Mpofu, announced a reshuffle of the Politburo by Mnangagwa. 

The Politburo reshuffle is seen by some as Mnangagwa’s attempt to manage succession within the party ahead of the 2028 general election, when his second and final term as State President ends.

Mutsvangwa emphasised that succession is not currently an issue, as Mnangagwa was granted a five-year mandate to govern the country just last year. He said:

“I want to repeat, the President just won an election last year in August; he won a term for five years. The next election is in 2028. Right now, he is occupied with fulfilling the mandate of the manifesto of the past election, which he is doing excellently in many ways. These are the issues that are preoccupying our President, not this wish to compress four or five years of an election into a succession issue right now. Succession is not the primary purpose of why he was elected; he was elected for building the mandate of prosperity. If the President wants anything, he comes and brings it to this building, to his Politburo, to his central committee, and eventually to his congress. That’s what the President does. We have not discussed that issue at that level, so we have no reason to fan the flames of something which is not on the agenda of the party.”

Mutsvangwa, who accused some of his ZANU PF colleagues of orchestrating the recent arrest of his son, Neville, denied being under fire from Mnangagwa, saying he had survived before and would continue to survive. 

He stated:

“Do you see any flames around me? I am not under any fire. I am here; I am a son of the revolution, and I will always be here.”

Earlier during the press conference, Mpofu announced that Mnangagwa had removed Mike Bimha from the political commissar post but kept him as a Politburo member. 

He also mentioned that Jacob Mudenda, the Speaker of the National Assembly, had been reassigned to be the Party’s Treasurer General, taking over from Patrick Chinamasa, who is now ZANU PF’s Secretary for Legal Affairs. 

Munyaradzi Machacha, who was the Principal of the Chitepo School of Ideology, replaced Bimha as the ZANU PF Political Commissar.