MASVINGO — Chief Fortune Charumbira’s political future has been thrown into doubt after 42 of 45 traditional leaders in Masvingo voted to recall him and two other chiefs from the National Council of Chiefs, a decision that could cost all three their seats in Zimbabwe’s Senate.
The vote against Charumbira, Chief Chitanga of Mwenezi, whose real name is Feleni Chauke, and Chief Nhema of Zaka, Rangarirai Bwawanda, came at a meeting held in Masvingo on Monday. The motion was moved by Chief Nemanwa, Fungai Manjiva, who was appointed to the chieftaincy only last month and whose jurisdiction includes Great Zimbabwe.
The motion gave no formal reason for the proposed recalls. But the timing has placed the decision firmly inside the widening political battle over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s constitutional changes, the future of Zanu PF and the loyalty of officials who hold influential positions in the state.
Chief Chitanga confirmed the result, saying: “Yes, we have been booted out. Forty-two out of forty-five chiefs voted in favour of the motion.”
The proposed recall is not yet the final administrative step. The three chiefs represent Masvingo in the Senate through the traditional leaders’ structure, and their removal from the National Council of Chiefs would trigger the loss of their parliamentary positions. Their political standing, however, has already suffered a decisive blow inside the provincial chiefs’ assembly.
The meeting was attended by Masvingo provincial minister Ezra Chadzamira, a staunch Mnangagwa ally and Zanu PF provincial chairman Rabson Mavenyengwa. Their presence has intensified questions over whether the chiefs’ vote was simply an internal leadership decision or part of a broader campaign to punish figures who are not fully aligned with Mnangagwa’s political programme.
The pressure on Charumbira comes at a critical moment. He is a former president of the National Council of Chiefs and is currently its deputy president under Chief Lucas Mtshane Khumalo of Bubi in Matabeleland North. He also sits in the Pan-African Parliament and has been one of the most prominent traditional leaders in Zimbabwean public life.
His influence has repeatedly placed him at the centre of national political disputes. In 2023, Charumbira was re-elected to the National Council of Chiefs and retained a direct route into the Senate. He has also spoken publicly on the relationship between traditional leaders, Zanu PF and the country’s opposition, making him a visible figure well beyond his Masvingo base.
In March 2023, Charumbira rejected reports that he had asked opposition leader Nelson Chamisa to abandon elections and join Mnangagwa in a Government of National Unity. He described those reports as “utter rubbish” and said the unity he had advocated was unity among Zimbabweans rather than the merger of political parties.
“Of course, it is utter rubbish that I appealed to (Mr) Chamisa to join President Mnangagwa in a GNU for whatever reason including to avoid elections due this year. Of course, nothing can be further from the truth because the unity I was talking about was the unity of all Zimbabweans to pull and push in the same direction irrespective of political differences and who is in power,” Charumbira said at the time.
He also said he had previously urged Chamisa to respect Mnangagwa as an elder and a fellow homeboy. “In the run-up to the 2018 harmonised elections, I approached (Mr) Chamisa and asked him why he was challenging his homeboy (President Mnangagwa) in an election instead of respecting him as the elder brother and let him run his race,” he said.
Those remarks showed how directly Charumbira was prepared to enter politically sensitive arguments. They also reinforced his reputation as a traditional leader willing to defend a particular understanding of national unity, even when that position brought him close to the ruling party’s political language.
The present dispute is unfolding after the passage of Constitutional Amendment No. 3, known as CAB3, which was signed into law as Constitutional Amendment Act No. 3 on 7 July 2026. The amendment extends presidential and parliamentary terms from five years to seven years, moving the next presidential election from 2028 to 2030.
It also removes the direct election of the president. Under the new arrangement, members of the Senate and the National Assembly will meet in a joint sitting after a general election to choose the president. A candidate must win more than half of the valid votes cast. If no candidate reaches that threshold, a run-off will be held between the two leading candidates.
That change has transformed the Senate into an even more important arena in the struggle over succession. Traditional leaders hold 18 guaranteed places in the 90-member chamber. Sixteen chiefs are elected from the eight non-metropolitan provinces, with two coming from each province, while the president and deputy president of the National Council of Chiefs sit in the Senate automatically.
The amendment has also increased the number of senators from 80 to 90 by allowing the president to appoint 10 additional senators for professional skills and other competencies after consultation with the National Assembly. It transfers responsibility for voter registration and the custody of voters’ rolls to the Registrar-General and creates a new Delimitation Commission to draw electoral boundaries.
With Parliament now central to the presidential succession process, every Senate seat carries greater political weight. A provincial chiefs’ vote that removes three senators therefore does more than alter the leadership of a traditional institution. It changes the balance of influence inside a chamber that will help determine who controls the country’s next political order.
The Masvingo vote follows months of pressure within Zanu PF against officials who criticised CAB3, failed to support it or stayed away from crucial votes. In Manicaland, central committee member Moses Gutu faced a recommendation for suspension after publicly denouncing the amendment during meetings across the province. His criticism was circulated in videos on social media, prompting provincial officials to refer his case to the national commissariat.
Party officials have linked the missed votes to a wider question of loyalty. One senior party source said: “The reshuffle is going to deal with all disloyal ministers. The President is expected to fire all rebels. This is not going to be business as usual because the issue of loyalty has now become very important within the party.”
The same source said: “The reshuffle is expected to weed out those who are working against the President. Those who are seen as working against the President cannot expect to continue enjoying positions of responsibility as if nothing happened. The President has to make sure that his government is made up of people who support his programme and decisions.”
“Some of you are like bats. They are here with us by day but at night they are speaking in tongues,” Chadzamira said.
The warning has taken on added importance after the chiefs’ vote. Charumbira, Chitanga and Nhema now face the possibility of losing both their positions in the National Council of Chiefs and their seats in a Senate whose authority has expanded under CAB3. The presence of Chadzamira at the meeting has made the outcome impossible to separate from the political climate surrounding the constitutional amendment.
The campaign against dissent has also reached government institutions. Senior officials have been moved between ministries and constitutional bodies, including the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, the Zimbabwe Gender Commission, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Zimbabwe Land Commission. The changes have placed new figures in institutions responsible for elections, rights, land and local government as the new constitutional order takes shape.
For Charumbira, the immediate danger is the loss of the parliamentary platform that has supported his national profile for years. For Zanu PF, the Masvingo vote sends a wider message: traditional leaders, MPs, ministers and provincial officials are being judged not only by their formal duties but by their position on Mnangagwa’s political programme.
The vote has also exposed how quickly a dispute within the chiefs’ body can become part of the succession struggle. Charumbira’s Senate career was built through the traditional leadership system. It may now end through that same system, at a time when the ruling party is demanding absolute discipline from every institution that will shape Zimbabwe’s post-CAB3 politics.
The message from Masvingo is blunt. Those who do not stand firmly with Mnangagwa’s camp risk losing the offices, influence and parliamentary power that once appeared secure. For Chief Fortune Charumbira, the goodbye may already have begun.