Chief Fortune Charumbira’s political future has been thrown into doubt after an overwhelming vote by traditional leaders in Masvingo to recall him from the National Council of Chiefs, followed by accusations that he took control of a gold-rich area after telling villagers to formalise their mining operations.
The two developments have placed one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent traditional leaders under growing pressure and have deepened questions about his standing within the Mnangagwa-aligned wing of Zanu PF.
On 14 September, 42 of the 45 chiefs who took part in a meeting in Masvingo voted in favour of recalling Charumbira and two other traditional leaders, Chief Chitanga of Mwenezi, whose real name is Feleni Chauke, and Chief Nhema of Zaka, born Rangarirai Bwawanda.
The motion was moved by Chief Nemanwa, Fungai Manjiva, who was appointed only last month and whose jurisdiction includes the Great Zimbabwe monument. No formal reasons were given for the proposed recalls, but the timing has tied the decision to the growing political fight over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s constitutional changes and the demand for loyalty inside the ruling party.
Chief Chitanga confirmed the result in blunt terms. “Yes, we have been booted out. Forty-two out of forty-five chiefs voted in favour of the motion.”
The vote does not by itself complete the administrative process required to remove the three chiefs. However, it threatens their positions on the National Council of Chiefs and, as a result, their seats in the Senate. Charumbira is currently the council’s deputy president, while the other two chiefs represent Masvingo through the traditional leaders’ structure.
The meeting was attended by Masvingo provincial minister Ezra Chadzamira and Zanu PF provincial chairman Rabson Mavenyengwa, both regarded as firm supporters of Mnangagwa. Their presence has added to the sense that the vote was more than an internal dispute among traditional leaders.
The pressure comes at a time when Senate seats have gained greater importance. Constitutional Amendment No. 3, signed into law on 7 July, extended presidential and parliamentary terms from five years to seven years and moved the next presidential election from 2028 to 2030.
The amendment also removed the direct election of the president. Under the new arrangement, members of the National Assembly and Senate will choose the president in a joint sitting after a general election. A candidate must secure more than half of the valid votes cast, with a run-off required if no candidate reaches that threshold.
Traditional leaders hold 18 guaranteed places in the 90-member Senate. Sixteen chiefs are elected from the eight non-metropolitan provinces, while the president and deputy president of the National Council of Chiefs sit in the chamber automatically. The proposed removal of three Masvingo chiefs therefore affects not only the leadership of the traditional institution but also the balance of influence in a chamber that will help determine Zimbabwe’s next political order.
The recall vote followed months of pressure on Zanu PF figures accused of opposing, criticising or failing to support the constitutional changes. Party MPs and ministers who missed crucial votes have faced calls for suspension or removal. At a Zanu PF meeting in Masvingo, Chadzamira warned that there would be “gnashing of teeth” for members who held secret meetings against the amendment.
“Some of you are like bats. They are here with us by day but at night they are speaking in tongues,” Chadzamira said.
That warning has taken on a sharper meaning after the chiefs’ vote. Charumbira built much of his national influence through the traditional leadership system, first as president of the National Council of Chiefs and later as its deputy president. The same structure that gave him a route into the Senate is now being used to challenge his position.
The political dispute has been followed by a separate controversy in Bondolfi, Masvingo, where villagers have accused Charumbira of taking over a gold claim after advising them to legalise their mining activities.
Charumbira convened a meeting with artisanal miners on 16 July and encouraged them to formalise their operations. A week later, he allegedly registered a claim covering the gold-rush area and began evicting villagers who had been prospecting there.
The miners are said to be bitter because they believe information from the meeting was used to secure control of the resource. The area had attracted a rush of villagers searching for gold, and the dispute has raised tensions over who should benefit from the mineral deposits.
Charumbira had not publicly responded to the accusations at the time the claims emerged. The controversy has nevertheless added a serious local dimension to the political pressure already facing him. A dispute over a mining claim has now unfolded alongside a revolt by chiefs in the province where he holds traditional authority.
Charumbira’s difficult relationship with political power is not new. In the run-up to the 2018 elections, he declared that chiefs and their subjects would support Zanu PF and then-president Robert Mugabe. The Election Resource Centre challenged the remarks in the High Court, arguing that they violated Section 281 of the Constitution, which requires traditional leaders to remain politically impartial.
The court ordered Charumbira to retract the statements and stop making partisan political declarations. He was later accused of defying the order after repeating that traditional leaders would continue supporting Zanu PF. In December 2018, he reportedly said chiefs were prepared to return to court rather than abandon the ruling party.
He again drew criticism at Zanu PF’s 2021 annual conference after publicly pledging the chiefs’ continued allegiance to the party. Civil-society groups said the position undermined the constitutional neutrality expected of traditional authorities.
In March 2023, Charumbira also found himself at the centre of a political dispute after reports circulated that he had urged opposition leader Nelson Chamisa to abandon elections and join Mnangagwa in a Government of National Unity. Charumbira rejected the claim, calling it “utter rubbish”.
“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,” he said.
He added: “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.”
Those remarks showed how directly Charumbira was willing to enter national political arguments. They also placed him close to the language of the ruling party while leaving him exposed whenever his statements appeared to conflict with the political line being enforced by Mnangagwa’s allies.
The present pressure is therefore coming from several directions. In Bondolfi, villagers accuse him of using a meeting about legal mining to secure a claim for himself. In Masvingo, an overwhelming majority of chiefs have voted to recall him and two colleagues. In the wider political arena, the Senate has become more important because of the new constitutional arrangements, while Zanu PF is demanding tighter discipline from officials and institutions.
For Charumbira, the possible loss of his Senate seat would remove a platform that has supported his national profile for years. It would also weaken his position inside the chiefs’ body and reduce his influence at a moment when traditional leaders are becoming more important to the balance of power in Zimbabwe.
The vote in Masvingo has made the danger clear. Chief Fortune Charumbira’s authority is no longer secure among the leaders who once helped carry him into the country’s political centre. As the fight over loyalty to Mnangagwa intensifies, his influence, office and parliamentary position are all facing their most serious challenge in years.
The goodbye may already have begun.