Mnangagwa Is Finished – Even His Wife Once Wanted Him Dead
28 March 2025 | Harare
Can you name one person who still trusts Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa?
https://x.com/zimeye/status/1905509597986644301?s=46
By Farai D Hove | ZimEye | That question now haunts Zimbabwe’s political soul. In the wake of his unlawful 27 March 2025 removal of General Anselem Sanyatwe, in a bid to cripple military oversight ahead of nationwide demonstrations, the nation is once again confronting a brutal truth: Mnangagwa is a man surrounded by suspicion, not trust — and this has been years in the making.
The Day Trust Died: The Auxillia Mnangagwa Leaked Audio
The most telling — and damning — moment in Mnangagwa’s trust collapse didn’t come from Parliament, the judiciary, or the opposition. It came from his own wife, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, in a chilling moment captured in a leaked phone call on or around 15 July 2019.
In the now-infamous audio, Auxillia confronts a military officer, Colonel Murombo, accusing him of spying on her and planting surveillance equipment. In a burst of rage and fear, she commands the soldier to act — not against her enemies, but against her husband.
“Uri kuda kundiuraya ini here? Dai wati ndiudze kuti ndiuraye ED kwete ini!”
(You want to kill me? You should have said, let’s kill ED — not me!)
— Auxillia Mnangagwa, July 2019
This was not satire. This was not metaphor. This was the First Lady of the Republic suggesting the Commander-in-Chief be assassinated — a staggering and terrifying window into a household, and presidency, ruled by fear, betrayal, and total psychological disintegration.
A Presidency of Paranoia, Not Power
If the woman sleeping beside him believed killing him was a better option than being spied on, then what remains of the moral and institutional architecture of his presidency?
It means the very core of trust — personal, marital, political — was already annihilated six years ago.
This event permanently shattered public perception of Mnangagwa’s grip on power. From that point forward, he was not seen as a “strongman,” but as a man trapped in a nest of vipers, where even his closest allies saw him as expendable.
The Futility of Removing Sanyatwe
Fast forward to 27 March 2025: Mnangagwa tries to oust General Anselem Sanyatwe, reassigning him to a civilian ministry in clear violation of Section 216, Section 208, and the Defence Act. He hoped to break the military’s momentum ahead of the impending 31 March demonstrations, which now threaten to demand his prosecution or removal.
But that strategy is doomed.
Because if your wife once preferred your death over political exposure, if your generals no longer obey your word, and if the law no longer shields your decisions, then you are not governing — you are only delaying the inevitable.
Mathematics of a Man Untrusted
• 2 March 2017: Mugabe bypasses Mnangagwa for the acting presidency — for the second time — and hands the reins to Phelekezela Mphoko.
• By July 2019: Auxillia Mnangagwa openly contemplates his death to a soldier.
• By March 2025: He is dismantling the military to pre-empt arrest.
In eight years, Mnangagwa went from Vice President-in-waiting to a man so feared and mistrusted that even his wife suggested killing him was more honourable than defending him.
Conclusion: No One Left to Trust Him
Can you name one person who still trusts Emmerson Mnangagwa?
The answer, now armed with that 2019 audio, is a thunderous no.
Not the generals.
Not the Parliament.
Not the courts.
Not even his wife.
If trust is the bedrock of leadership, then Mnangagwa’s presidency stands on ash. And come 31 March, the nation may finally sweep away the last ruins of a man who has long since finished himself.