By A Correspondent — Controversial businessman and Mnangagwa’s long-time ally, Kudakwashe Tagwirei, is now openly leading a parallel 2030 re-election campaign sidelining veteran party cadres and igniting fresh tensions within the ruling ZANU PF party.

Tagwirei, recently elected into ZANU PF’s Central Committee, will be the Guest of Honor at a high-profile event organised by Young Women 4 Economic Development held at NUST Ceremonial Hall on 25 June 2025.

Branded as part of the Leadership Success Series under the theme “The Land Tenure: Unlocking the Potential of Young People,” the gathering will see the launch of the Vendors 4 ED Presidential Empowerment Fund, a strategic populist move aimed at consolidating Mnangagwa’s grassroots support.

But critics say the event is less about youth empowerment and more about power consolidation by Mnangagwa’s loyalists, infamously referred to as the Zvigananda faction a term now synonymous with sycophants and corrupt praise-singers enabling Mnangagwa’s third-term ambitions.

Joining Tagwirei on the poster and backing the ED2030 project are other prominent Zvigananda figures:

• Paul Tungwarara – Presidential Investment Advisor (Guest Speaker)
• Owen Ncube – Minister of State, Bulawayo (Speaker)
• Munyaradzi Machacha  – ZANU PF National Political Commissar (Speaker)
• Tinotenda Machakaire – Youth Minister (Speaker)
• Jabulani Sibanda – ZANU PF Provincial Chair (Speaker)
• Tatenda Mavetera – Minister of ICT (Speaker)
• Nyasha Mhonda – National Women Students YW4ED Coordinator
• Sandra Ndebele – Bulawayo Chairperson YW4ED, Event Host

Analysts say this group carefully chosen for their undivided loyalty to Mnangagwa, forms the nucleus of a political machinery preparing the ground for an ED2030 campaign, a project aimed at extending Mnangagwa’s presidency beyond the constitutional limit of two terms.

Notably absent from both the program and the platform are veterans, military figures, and other long-serving ZANU PF cadres who have grown increasingly uneasy with Tagwirei’s rising political role and the growing cult of personality around Mnangagwa.

The Zvigananda takeover has deepened the party’s succession crisis, particularly irking Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who many believed was next in line after his pivotal role in the 2017 coup that brought Mnangagwa to power.

While Chiwenga remains publicly silent, insiders say he is watching Tagwirei’s manoeuvres with growing unease.

Tagwirei’s recent appointment to the Central Committee, confirmed by party legal affairs secretary Patrick Chinamasa, was facilitated through back channels. Though nominated by Masvingo province, it was Harare Province — closely aligned with Mnangagwa — that cleared a slot for him, signalling how the President’s inner circle is shaping the party’s future trajectory.

Political analysts argue that the resurrection of the ED2030 slogan, once abandoned after public backlash, reflects a deliberate effort to entrench Mnangagwa’s hold on power — and effectively block Chiwenga’s presidential ambitions in 2028.

Meanwhile, the Vendors 4 ED, Hairdressers 4 ED, Pastors 4 ED, and even Children of War Veterans 4 ED , all paraded at the NUST event, are increasingly seen not as empowerment vehicles but as political instruments in a broader re-election strategy disguised as youth and women mobilisation.