By Farai D Hove | ZimEye | ZANU-PF’s powerful Politburo has slammed the door shut on Kudakwashe Tagwirei’s controversial co-option into the Central Committee, dealing a humiliating blow to both the fuel magnate and his top political backer — President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In a moment described by insiders as “a complete blackout”, only two out of 49 Politburo members — Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and veteran Omega Hungwe — supported Tagwirei’s elevation. The move was resoundingly rejected by key figures including Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Obert Mpofu, Patrick Chinamasa, Christopher Mutsvangwa, and others, signalling a seismic shift within ZANU-PF’s internal power dynamics.
The blackout is not just a personal setback for Tagwirei — it is a principled rejection of Mnangagwa’s alleged strategy to consolidate control of the party through backdoor manoeuvres and moneyed proxies.
This dramatic repudiation comes just days after Vice President Chiwenga reportedly blocked a planned donation of luxury vehicles from Tagwirei to Politburo members, widely seen as an attempted inducement ahead of the vote. The rejection of both the donation and the co-option makes clear that a growing bloc within ZANU-PF is now actively resisting what they describe as the creeping corporate capture of the party.
Adding fuel to the political fire, ZANU-PF Women’s League deputy chairperson and cabinet minister Monica Mutsvangwa — wife of Politburo heavyweight Chris Mutsvangwa — last week issued a thinly veiled attack on Tagwirei and Mnangagwa’s leadership style.
Speaking at a party meeting, Mutsvangwa warned against “kitchen cabinet politics” and the corrupting power of money, saying:
“We will not accept things that are decided at someone’s home,” — a direct reference to the President’s Precabe Farm, now viewed by many as an unofficial power base used to override party structures.
She went further, rebuking Tagwirei’s unchecked influence:
“Hatidi vanhu vanofunga kuti vanogona kushandisa mari ku divider vanhu… If money was what kept someone in power, Ian Smith would still be ruling today.”
Her remarks reflect a growing revolt within ZANU-PF against what critics call the monetisation of loyalty and the erosion of democratic processes in party affairs.
Multiple sources confirm that the failed co-option was not simply delayed or referred for review — it was flatly rejected, with some members reportedly vowing never to legitimise Tagwirei’s involvement in the party hierarchy.
Deputy Minister Tino Machakaire is said to have lobbied intensively overnight, urging Politburo members to oppose the appointment, while Fidelity Printers chair Godwills Masimirembwa reportedly told colleagues he had been pressured into supporting the bid by Obert Mpofu, whom he described as his “political godfather.”
The implications are wide-reaching. Tagwirei, long considered the financial lifeline of Mnangagwa’s political machinery, has now been publicly disowned by the party’s core leadership.
More critically, the rejection represents the first direct and unified resistance to Mnangagwa from within both the Politburo and his own Presidium, casting serious doubt on his bid to secure an unconstitutional third term in 2030.
“This was a vote of no confidence in the use of money and shadow networks to run the party,” one Politburo member said. “The blackout on Tagwirei is the loudest rejection Mnangagwa has received since he took power in 2017.”
With the party’s core structures now reasserting themselves, analysts say Mnangagwa’s authority has been fatally undermined and the battle for post-2028 leadership is now fully in motion — without him or his proxies at the helm.
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