Harare – A bitter feud has erupted within Zanu PF, with Buhera West legislator Tafadzwa Mugwadi launching a stinging attack on what he describes as newly-found benefactors using their wealth to secure senior positions in the ruling party. Mugwadi’s outburst comes amidst growing unease among Zanu PF veterans regarding the increasing influence of money in the party’s internal politics.
The epicentre of this conflict lies in Manicaland province, where Mugwadi, a former Zanu PF director of information, is embroiled in a fierce turf war with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s advisor, Paul Tungwarara. Tungwarara’s ambition to be co-opted into the central committee has ignited serious divisions within the party ranks.
In a scathing post on social media platform X, Mugwadi accused Tungwarara of employing wealth, proxies, and clandestine meetings to undermine him and other loyal party members. He alleged that Mnangagwa’s advisor was “flaunting riches” to buy political influence and deploying “hired political urchins” to intimidate those who had delivered Zanu PF victories in the 2018 and 2023 elections.
Mugwadi’s unrestrained attack coincided with Tungwarara addressing a Zanu PF event in Chipinge on Saturday. During his address, Tungwarara criticised unnamed senior party officials in Manicaland for allegedly spreading gossip and causing divisions.
The animosity between the two figures has been simmering for some time. Just days before Mugwadi’s public outburst, Zanu PF commissar Munyaradzi Machacha ordered the Manicaland provincial coordinating committee to reverse Tungwarara’s controversial nomination into the central committee, citing violations of party regulations. Machacha’s stance was supported by Zanu PF legal affairs secretary Patrick Chinamasa, a senior figure in Manicaland.
Mugwadi further accused Tungwarara of organising clandestine “kangaroo gatherings” in violation of party directives, with the aim of “spewing hate, polarising, and sowing divisions.”
“Worse when you are aiming at people, comrades, and cadres who sweated for 2018 and 2023 victories in your absence from both the ballot and the party,” Mugwadi stated, without explicitly naming Tungwarara in his post.
He continued, “Not to mention that the second republic is a product of collective sweat, sacrifice, and unity of purpose of our leadership and other known key players while you are unaccounted for during that period and no one knows where you were.”
Mugwadi questioned Tungwarara’s political credentials, highlighting his absence during crucial periods in the party’s recent history, including election campaigns.
“The second republic is a product of collective sweat, sacrifice, and unity of purpose, while you were unaccounted for,” he reiterated.
“Now, let me be very clear, open, and direct to you, as Hon Tafadzwa Mugwadi, that unlike you who employ clandestine ghost characters and hired social media martyrs of folly to chide me.”
“I remain Tafadzwa Mugwadi who does not and shall never worship your comic, theatrical, and uneventful politics, nor take your threats as news, simply because you are not the epitome of presidential appointees.”
Mugwadi also dismissed what he described as veiled threats by Tungwarara to expel Zanu PF members who opposed his ambitions. He reminded Tungwarara that he was merely an advisor, not the president.
“You are not anywhere close to equivalence to the principal so as to issue threats against his party deployees,” he asserted. “Who are you?”
The fallout between Mugwadi and Tungwarara reflects a broader discontent within Zanu PF regarding the growing influence of money in internal party politics. Many Zanu PF veterans are reportedly unhappy with the way a clique of businessmen, such as Tungwarara, are allegedly using cash, vehicles, and other material inducements to buy positions within the party.
This is not an isolated incident. A similar dispute unfolded in Harare, where businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei allegedly leveraged his financial power to force his inclusion in the central committee.
Sources within Zanu PF suggest that Tagwirei is being positioned as Mnangagwa’s preferred successor, potentially ahead of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.
Chiwenga, who led the coup that ousted Robert Mugabe in 2017, has long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Mnangagwa.
Prior to the Zanu PF conference in Mutare in October, tensions reportedly escalated when Chiwenga confronted Mnangagwa over the controversial businessmen, including Tungwarara and Tagwirei, accusing them of hijacking the ruling party using their “ill-gotten wealth.”
The clashes highlight the deep divisions within Zanu PF and raise questions about the future direction of the party. The accusations of money buying influence and the challenges to established power structures suggest a fierce battle for control is underway.
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