The truth is that ZANU-PF died a long time ago!

ZANU-PF, as a political party, ceased to exist long ago.

What remains today is merely a mirage—a hollow shell that continues to function only because of the vast patronage network it sustains.

The so-called ruling party has long lost any ideological foundation, and its survival depends solely on the incentives it provides to its members.

Without access to state resources and the power they bring, there would be no ZANU-PF to speak of.

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In a recent interview with a South African media outlet, ZANU-PF’s Director for Information and Publicity, Farai Marapira, dismissed any claims of discord or disunity within the ruling party.

He attempted to portray a picture of a party that remains firmly united and intact.

While Marapira’s reassurances may have sounded convincing at first, they offer little more than a defense of a party that, at its core, has long ceased to exist in any meaningful ideological or political sense.

What we are witnessing today in Zimbabwe is not the vibrant, revolutionary party that once commanded national respect in the 1970s and 80s, but rather a hollow shell propped up by the crumbling remains of a once-powerful system.

ZANU-PF has, in fact, been ideologically bankrupt for decades, and its continued survival is solely due to the benefits it provides to a small, self-interested elite.

The reality is that ZANU-PF’s existence is now purely transactional.

At every level of its structure, from the grassroots to the highest echelons of power, membership in the party is driven not by any belief in principles or policies but by the material benefits it affords.

It is a vehicle for self-enrichment, not governance.

For the ordinary Zimbabwean, particularly those at the grassroots level, ZANU-PF membership is often a matter of economic survival rather than ideological allegiance.

With over 80% of the population living in poverty and more than 90% of Zimbabweans unemployed, the ruling party has weaponized poverty as a means of control.

The party is structured in such a way that it doles out food aid, agricultural inputs, so-called empowerment loans, and pieces of land to ensure continued support.

This is not governance—it is blackmail.

A truly empowered citizenry, independent of government handouts, would have no reason to remain within ZANU-PF’s fold.

The party’s survival depends on maintaining the population in a state of dependency.

People do not support ZANU-PF out of conviction but out of necessity.

It is a matter of keeping one’s family from starving, rather than subscribing to any meaningful political ideology.

The same logic applies at the higher levels of power.

Senior government officials, ministers, and party elites cling to ZANU-PF because it grants them access to state resources.

Corruption is the glue that holds them together.

These individuals would have little to no means of maintaining their extravagant lifestyles outside of the party’s patronage system.

If ZANU-PF were to lose power, they would be left with nothing.

This is precisely why they will do anything to prevent that from happening—including electoral fraud, brutal repression, and the capture of supposedly independent institutions.

State security forces, too, have been absorbed into this patronage system, with the military allegedly deeply entrenched in economic exploitation, controlling lucrative sectors such as mining.

These institutions are no longer neutral upholders of the Constitution but enforcers of the regime’s continued rule.

Their financial interests are tied to ZANU-PF’s survival, ensuring their unwavering loyalty, not to the nation, but to the party.

This is also why factional battles within ZANU-PF never result in breakaway movements.

Despite the intense infighting that has plagued the party for years, no faction has ever willingly left to form an alternative political movement.

This is not because of any deep-seated loyalty to ZANU-PF but because leaving the party would mean abandoning access to the resources and privileges that come with its rule.

Those who have been expelled from the party have often attempted to claw their way back in, as evidenced by figures such as Professor Jonathan Moyo, who once famously admitted that “it is lonely outside ZANU-PF.”

The elite’s desperation to hold onto power has only intensified in recent years.

Unlike in the past, when ZANU-PF could at least claim to have an ideological framework rooted in the liberation struggle, today’s leadership lacks any coherent political vision.

No one within the ruling elite can convincingly articulate what ZANU-PF stands for.

Its only ideology is power for power’s sake.

This is why ZANU-PF’s situation mirrors that of UNIP in Zambia, which completely collapsed after losing power in 1991.

Under Kenneth Kaunda, UNIP maintained its grip on Zambia through a combination of patronage and state control.

Once it was removed from power, its members abandoned it en masse, leaving behind nothing but a shell.

ZANU-PF is heading in the same direction.

Its members are bound not by ideology but by greed, and once it loses its stranglehold on state resources, it will disintegrate just as UNIP did.

The ruling party understands this reality, which is why it goes to great lengths to prevent its downfall.

Every election is marred by allegations of fraud, voter suppression, and state-sponsored violence.

The capture of the judiciary, the media, and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ensures that the opposition is never given a fair chance to compete.

The continued persecution of opposition leaders and activists is a clear indication that ZANU-PF knows it cannot survive in a truly democratic environment.

Despite these desperate measures, the truth remains that ZANU-PF is a dead party walking.

It survives only because it has not yet been removed from power.

The moment it is ousted, it will vanish, just as UNIP did.

It has no core ideological foundation, no genuine support base beyond those who rely on it for survival, and no sustainable vision for the country.

ZANU-PF died decades ago.

What remains is a network of self-serving elites clinging to power not out of any political conviction but because they have no alternative means of survival.

The people of Zimbabwe deserve better than this illusion of a party.

They deserve a government that empowers them, rather than one that thrives on their dependence.

The future of Zimbabwe lies not in perpetuating this façade but in dismantling it once and for all.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/