A crucial ruling Zanu PF politburo meeting, which was scheduled for 2 pm this afternoon, was cancelled due to fierce clashes between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga in the background over the proposed amendment of the party constitution to align it with Constitutional Amendment Act No.3 in the national Supreme Law ahead of its annual conference set for 12 -17 October at the Chinhoyi University of Technology in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West Province, The NewsHawks can exclusively reveal. Zanu PF spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa said: “There was a clash or an overflow of programmes, and the meeting was postponed.” Zanu PF Director for Information and Publicity Farai Marapira said the meeting was cancelled due to a “clash of programmes; but nothing serious”.
Zanu PF officials are due to address a press conference any moment from now at the Spirit Embassy: The Goodnews Church in Braeside, Harare. The annual conference fund-raiser Phillip Chiyangwa is expected to address journalists at the media briefing. Mnangagwa and Chiwenga are locked in a deadly succession battle which is fast intensifying ahead of the conference. At the upcoming gathering in Chinhoyi, the battleground will shift from the national charter to the party’s own constitution.
Mnangagwa and his political allies are pushing a wholesale review of the constitution to align it with the new national supreme law. Chiwenga and his faction, rooted deeply in the military and war veteran structures, are resisting with growing fury. They see the adjustment as a calculated political manoeuvre to delay the succession transition timeline from 2028 to 2030 to allow Mnangagwa to consolidate power, while thwarting Chiwenga’s momentum and locking him out of the presidency.
A senior official said: “In the corridors of power, the smiles are frozen, and the daggers are drawn. The situation is exacerbating. The fight is now over the amendment of the party constitution to align it with the national constitution. There will be blood on the floor.” In a serious escalation, Chiwenga boycotted the funeral of the late tycoon Wicknell Chivayo, Mnangagwa’s “son” and “friend” who was a financial and power broker in the ruling party in protest against what is happening on succession.
Chivayo’s shock death and its politics marked a dramatic escalation of the succession battle. The conflict between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga represents a textbook succession crisis within a militarised liberation movement. Tensions now centre entirely on the institutionalisation of Mnangagwa’s extended stay in power through Constitutional Amendment Act No. 3. The constitutional amendments extended Mnangagwa’s tenure to 2030 from 2028, changed how the President is elected, shifting from direct vote to parliamentary selection and lengthened the term of the President and parliament from five to seven years, among other far-reaching political, electoral and governance architecture changes.
Mnangagwa’s faction says the wholesale changes are necessary for “continuity,” “stability” and finishing infrastructure projects, and realising the “Vision 2030” economic framework. However, the Chiwenga camp is furiously opposed to them, saying they amount to a ‘constitutional coup’ or constitutional subversion. The battle to align the Zanu-PF constitution with Constitutional Amendment Act No. 3 is not a dry administrative exercise; it is now an existential struggle for political survival.
By leveraging state infrastructure and constitutional reforms, Mnangagwa has successfully outmanoeuvred Chiwenga on paper; at least for now. However, Chiwenga is fighting back fearlessly, like he did today, forcing a postponement of the Politburo, something unprecedented in Zanu-PF history. Altering the rules of the game so carries grave risks for Mnangagwa. The situation is that Zanu-PF is now fast becoming like what happened before the November 2017 coup under the late former president Robert Mugabe.
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