By a Correspondent-ZANU PF has distanced itself from an advert circulating on social media announcing a supposed “Presidential Star Rally” to be held Sunday at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Precabe Farm in Sherwood, Kwekwe.
The party’s Director of Information, Farai Marapira, dismissed the poster as “fake,” clarifying that the event was not a public rally but a closed-door meeting involving Politburo and Central Committee members. According to Marapira, the purpose of the gathering was “to drive and establish a manufacturing economy backed by the throughput of a vibrant farming and mining industry.”
The now-disowned poster suggested that the event would be led by controversial businessman Kudakwashe Tagwireyi, a long-time Mnangagwa ally widely regarded as the financier behind both the ruling party and the president’s personal political projects. Though ZANU PF has denied Tagwireyi’s involvement, the imagery of state and party elites assembling at the president’s private farm has reignited concerns over growing patronage, cronyism, and state capture.
Observers say the use of Precabe Farm — Mnangagwa’s personal property — as a venue for high-level political meetings underscores how power is increasingly being consolidated around the president’s private empire.
“This is classic state-party conflation,” said a Harare-based political analyst. “Mnangagwa is turning his private property into a centre of political gravity, cultivating loyalty through exclusive access. The fact that Tagwireyi was initially linked to the event only deepens fears about how business and politics are dangerously intertwined under the so-called Second Republic.”
Tagwireyi has been repeatedly implicated in questionable deals involving fuel procurement, central bank facilities, and the command agriculture program. He is widely viewed as the regime’s behind-the-scenes financier — a powerful figure whose fortunes have risen alongside Mnangagwa’s. Both the U.S. and U.K. governments have sanctioned Tagwireyi for allegedly enabling large-scale corruption and looting of state resources.
The meeting at Precabe Farm is the latest in a growing list of instances where Mnangagwa has used his private business interests to reinforce his political image. Originally acquired during Zimbabwe’s chaotic land reform program, the farm has been showcased as a model of success, boasting mechanized farming systems and commercial ventures far beyond the reach of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Critics argue that this blurring of public and private domains signals a dangerous trend in which state resources, party structures, and private business interests are all concentrated in the hands of a few.
“Hosting key policy discussions and strategic party meetings on private land is more than symbolic — it reflects a broader attempt to institutionalize Mnangagwa’s dominance while sidestepping democratic oversight,” said another analyst.