If your survival depends on proximity to power or public tenders, you’re not a businessman – you’re a leech

In Zimbabwe today, the term “businessman” has been so corrupted that it no longer carries its true meaning.

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Increasingly, those paraded as successful entrepreneurs are nothing more than parasites who have mastered the art of feeding off state largesse and proximity to political power.

They are not wealth creators but wealth extractors.

They thrive not by innovating, investing, or building enterprises that serve people, but by clinging tightly to whoever occupies State House.

This reality explains the growing desperation among Zimbabwe’s so-called tenderpreneurs to defend President Emmerson Mnangagwa at all costs, including backing calls for him to extend his rule beyond the constitutional two-term limit.

Even more telling are the reports — albeit conflicting — that Kudakwashe Tagwirei, perhaps the most infamous of these “Zvigananda,” has been co-opted into the ZANU-PF Central Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body in between congresses.

Whether confirmed or denied, the mere suggestion reveals a dangerous blurring of lines between politics and business, and the frantic maneuvering of tenderpreneurs to secure their survival in a post-Mnangagwa Zimbabwe.

But why this panic?

After all, Mnangagwa’s exit in 2028, as per constitutional term limits, is unlikely to usher in an opposition government.

Zimbabwe’s opposition is effectively dead, fragmented, and incapable of mounting a serious challenge.

The far more probable outcome is another ZANU-PF presidency, with the natural successor being Vice President and former Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander, Constantino Chiwenga.

This is the man who led the November 2017 coup that toppled Robert Mugabe and ushered Mnangagwa into power.

Logic dictates that ZANU-PF will retain power, and with it, the system that has sustained these tenderpreneurs.

So why should they be afraid?

The answer lies in who Chiwenga is and what he represents to this clique of politically connected businessmen.

Analysts widely believe that the fear is not of ZANU-PF losing power, but of Chiwenga himself.

There is a pervasive view that the retired general, if elevated to the presidency, will come after those who have used state power to enrich themselves.

He is seen as a man who could investigate the sources of their questionable wealth, cut off their unfair access to public tenders, and dismantle the patronage networks that have sustained them.

For the likes of Tagwirei, Wicknell Chivayo, Paul Tungwarara, Pedzisai “Scott” Sakupwanya, Obey Chimuka, and others, that is a terrifying prospect.

Their fortunes were not built on merit but on privilege — inflated tenders, shady mining rights, murky fuel deals, the disposal of state assets, and illicit activities ranging from money laundering to gold smuggling.

Without proximity to political power, they collapse.

Take Wicknell Chivayo, for instance.

During Mugabe’s era, he was actually convicted of money laundering and served time in prison.

Yet under Mnangagwa, he has become untouchable — so untouchable that his name has been linked to a scandal involving the payment of R1.1 billion to South African company Ren-Form CC for election materials, with a staggering R800 million reportedly ending up in accounts linked to him.

He has also been associated with a nearly US$500 million tender to supply cancer machines through a company registered just months before, raising obvious questions about how such a sensitive deal was awarded.

Tagwirei’s story is even more illustrative.

His meteoric rise coincided with Mnangagwa’s ascent, and it has been paved with state favours.

From controversial acquisitions of stakes in CBZ and ZB banks to opaque mining ventures under Kuvimba Mining House, to the infamous Dema Diesel Power Plant deal, and a near-monopoly over Zimbabwe’s fuel supply through Sakunda Holdings, his empire is the very embodiment of state capture.

Through his associate Obey Chimuka, contracts like the $114 million job to construct the Trabablas Interchange have been handed out at costs far higher than comparable projects elsewhere.

Paul Tungwarara is another name in this long list.

From borehole drilling contracts to a reported $15 million tender to build a precast wall around State House, his companies have enjoyed remarkable favour.

He now leads the $500 million cyber city project in Mt. Hampden, again under circumstances that raise eyebrows.

These examples expose the fragility of Zimbabwe’s so-called “business elite.”

If they were genuine entrepreneurs, they would not lose sleep over the prospect of a leadership change within ZANU-PF.

Real businesspeople thrive regardless of who is in power, because they offer value that society needs.

Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless is a good example.

Whether under Mugabe, Mnangagwa, or whoever comes next, Masiyiwa’s business will remain relevant because it is rooted in innovation, service delivery, and meeting customer needs.

He does not require tenders handed out under opaque processes or political cover to thrive.

That is the difference between an entrepreneur and a leech.

The tenderpreneurs’ fear of Chiwenga is therefore a revealing admission.

It tells us that they know their wealth is illegitimate, and that without Mnangagwa’s protection, they would have to answer difficult questions about their dealings.

Their obsession with keeping Mnangagwa in office, or at the very least ensuring he anoints one of their own — like Tagwirei — as his successor, is driven by the sheer terror of accountability.

But this is not just about them.

It is about the cost to Zimbabwe.

These so-called businessmen are bleeding the country dry.

Their inflated tenders drain the fiscus of scarce resources that should be building hospitals, equipping schools, repairing roads, and creating jobs.

Their reliance on political patronage and state contracts stifles fair competition and discourages genuine entrepreneurship.

Their lifestyles, flaunted shamelessly on social media, mock ordinary Zimbabweans who endure daily suffering with no electricity, no clean water, no jobs, and no hope.

This is the tragedy of Zimbabwe: a country where parasites masquerade as entrepreneurs, where state capture is celebrated as success, and where the very people destroying the economy are paraded as role models.

If anything, their desperation to cling to Mnangagwa is proof that they know their survival depends not on their skills, products, or services, but on continued access to tenders, state assets, and protection from scrutiny.

Legitimate entrepreneurs would welcome any leader — even Chiwenga or anyone else — as long as they uphold the rule of law and provide a genuine enabling environment for business.

They would not be terrified of impartial investigations into tenders or contracts, because their businesses would stand up to scrutiny.

Only those with skeletons in their closets would dread such a future.

Zimbabwe does not need tenderpreneurs.

It needs genuine entrepreneurs who can build industries, create jobs, and add value to our economy.

It needs men and women who can compete fairly in the global marketplace without leaning on political connections.

It needs builders, not leeches.

Until we break the stranglehold of these parasitic tenderpreneurs, Zimbabwe will remain a country bled dry by those who mistake proximity to power for entrepreneurship.

And until Zimbabweans themselves recognize the difference between a businessman and a leech, we will continue to celebrate our own destruction.

• 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/