Harare – 2 July 2025
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s long-speculated 2030 presidential ambitions have hit a brick wall after the ZANU-PF Politburo rejected the co-option of his top ally, fuel tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei, into the Central Committee — and in a further embarrassment, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga blocked a controversial donation of brand-new vehicles from Tagwirei to Politburo members.
The dramatic sequence of events has left Mnangagwa politically exposed and internally isolated, with his own Presidium openly defying him, and the ruling party’s top executive arm — the Politburo — rejecting him in principle.
Sources inside the heated Politburo meeting confirmed that only two out of 49 members — Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Politburo stalwart Omega Hungwe — supported the move to parachute Tagwirei into the Central Committee. The rest, led by Vice President Chiwenga, Secretary for Administration Obert Mpofu, Christopher Mutsvangwa, and Patrick Chinamasa, voted the proposal down.
The rejection is widely seen as a fatal blow to Mnangagwa’s efforts to entrench loyalists in key positions and engineer a path to a third term beyond 2028.
But the most telling sign of resistance came before the meeting, when Chiwenga reportedly intercepted and blocked a plan for Tagwirei to donate luxury vehicles to Politburo members — a gesture critics described as a blatant bribe intended to curry favour ahead of the vote.
“The vehicle scheme was a red line,” said a senior party figure. “Chiwenga was clear — party loyalty cannot be bought with cars, and Tagwirei cannot buy a seat at the table,” said one source speaking on condition of anonymity.
Even Munyaradzi Machacha, often seen as Tagwirei’s political handler, remained conspicuously silent throughout the session — signalling that even those previously aligned with the controversial businessman were unwilling to defend the move.
Insiders say Deputy Minister Tino Machakaire, along with other emerging power brokers, worked through the night lobbying Politburo members to reject the co-option. Meanwhile, Fidelity Printers chairman Godwills Masimirembwa — who initially backed the idea — is rumoured to have told confidantes he had been pressured into it by his “political godfather” Obert Mpofu.
The failed co-option is being widely interpreted as a referendum on Mnangagwa’s future, and analysts say the President’s authority within ZANU-PF is now severely compromised.
“This isn’t just a political loss — it’s a personal rejection,” one observer noted. “Mnangagwa’s blueprint for 2030 hinged on Tagwirei’s influence and resources. Now, both have been publicly rejected by the very structures that are supposed to protect him.”
With the Politburo and key members of the Presidium clearly breaking ranks, the path to a 2030 candidacy for Mnangagwa appears blocked — not by the opposition, but by his own party machinery.
The message from ZANU-PF is now unmistakably clear: the era of Mnangagwa may be coming to an end.
Developing story…