By A Correspondent – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s unilateral decision to confer national hero status on his relative and ZESA Holdings executive chairperson, Sydney Gata, has triggered divisions within ZANU-PF, with party insiders accusing him of bypassing established procedures.
Gata, who died in Harare on Thursday after a short illness at the age of 79, was declared a national hero without the customary deliberations of the ZANU-PF politburo, insiders have revealed.
“There was no politburo discussion after Gata’s death. We were shocked to learn through the media that he had been declared a national hero,” said a senior party official at the ZANU-PF headquarters.
“This is a serious breach of party procedure by the President and his close allies, who seem to have hijacked the party’s revolutionary and people-centered mandate,” the source added.
Party spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa could not be reached for comment.
Gata, originally from the Mutema communal lands in Chipinge under Chief Mutema, was widely regarded as a powerful technocrat with deep political connections. Married to Mnangagwa’s second wife, Gata is believed to have leveraged this relationship to exert significant influence within government and party structures.
He held several prominent positions during his career—serving as CEO of ZESA in the 1980s and 1990s, returning as Executive Chairman in 2019, and holding international advisory roles in the energy sector. However, his professional legacy was marred by serious allegations of corruption, nepotism, and abuse of office.
Under his leadership, Zimbabwe’s electricity crisis worsened—plagued by frequent power cuts, ballooning debt, and deteriorating infrastructure—while Gata reportedly enjoyed a life of luxury and remained insulated from accountability.
In his home constituency of Mutema-Musikavanhu, Gata’s influence proved divisive. Locals accused him of installing his wife, Angeline Gata, as a parliamentary candidate, fracturing ZANU-PF structures and allegedly using state resources and coercion to suppress dissent.
During the June 14 by-election in Ward 5, more than 1,200 voters were “assisted” under suspicious claims of illiteracy—many of them teachers and civil servants—fueling concerns of voter manipulation.
Gata was also accused of displacing villagers to expand his private land holdings, leaving many residents in Chipinge fearful of challenging him due to his close ties to the President and the political protection they offered.
While some credit him with initiating development projects—including the proposed Gazaland University—many in his home area view him as a symbol of Zimbabwe’s post-independence elite: a class marked by unchecked power, patronage politics, and economic exclusion.