๐๐๐๐จ ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐จ๐๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐-๐๐ง๐๐จ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ค ๐พ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐๐’๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐๐ช๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ช ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐๐๐๐ช๐ข ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐ค๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ช๐ง๐ค ๐ค๐ฃ 17 ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐๐๐ง 2025 ๐๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐๐จ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐ช๐๐จ๐๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐จ.
BY RUVIMBO MUCHENJE
Zimbabwean Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, a former army general who led the coup which ousted the late former president Robert Mugabe in November 2017, has accused his exiled political rival Jonathan Moyo of engaging in treasonous activities by writing a secret document for parliament to change the country’s governance system and postpone the scheduled 2028 elections to 2035.
This comes on the eve of a crucial ruling Zanu PF annual conference in Mutare which opens tomorrow and runs from 13-18 October.
Chiwenga’s treason charge against Moyo have wider implications on the intensifying succession power struggle between President Emmerson
Mnangagwa and Chiwenga which threatens to fuel political and economic instability in Zimbabwe with regional destabilisation consequences through mass immigration and cross-border tensions among ordinary people, particularly in South Africa that already hosts millions of Zimbabwean immigrants.
The Zimbabwean problem has had a far-reaching political and security impact on the region for decades now, with South Africa, the most affected country, trying to mediate and end it – in vain.
In a leaked confidential document presented to Mnangagwa and the ruling Zanu PF presidium – the top five – and the party’s decision-making politburo on 17 September at two separate meetings on the same day in Harare, Chiwenga accuses Moyo of treason for writing a document called Breaking Barriers Initiative: Putting Zimbabwe First which he says seeks to change the political system and postpone the 2028 elections to 2035.
The document, also seen by The NewsHawks which has always been on top of big political stories in the country, says its objective under the auspices of the Parliament of Zimbabwe is to “identify and break chronic toxic barriers to efficient and effective service delivery, infrastructural development and socio-economic progress in Zimbabwe primarily caused by the scourge of perennially disputed elections and the resultant scourge of a toxic governance and policy environment in-between the disputed elections”.
Presenting his secret document, which remains confidential although it has now been seen by The NewsHawks and other media organisations, to Mnangagwa and Zanu PF top five leaders, inclduing co-Vice-President Kembo Mohadi, chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and former secretary-general Obert Mpofu, Chiwenga said:
“Comrade President, you recall I brought to your attention the treasonous project which has been penned by Jonathan Moyo for our Parliament to implement, the so-called Breaking Barriers Initiative which is seeking to change our political system and suspend elections to 2035. Not only is this Project treasonous and a huge scandal, and its being done and championed by people like Jonathan Moyo, whom we fired from the Party. This Breaking Barriers Initiative has also never been discussed and approved at the Party’s last Congress, nor has it ever been discussed and approved by the Central Committee. We are now watching in shock and disbelief as this project is now being covertly implemented and being funded by these criminals, Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Wicknell Chivhayo, Scott Sakupwanya, and Delish Nguwaya, and their associates.”
In the same secret document, Chiwenga accuses Tagwirei, a local multi-millionaire tycoon close to Mnangagwa and others including the cash-rich tenderpreneur Chivayo, of looting billions in United States dollars from public coffers for self-enrichment and now funding their political ambitions.
In a no-holds-barred confrontation with Mnangagwa, Chiwenga calls for their immediate arrests and severe punishment.
Chiwenga’s document will almost certainly cause a political stir during the Zanu PF conference at Mutare Polytechnic in the eastern highlands city.
The gathering is critical as it will give political pointers on the trajectory of the escalating succession battle between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga.
It will also show whether Zimbabwe will continue under Mnangagwa’s rule amid attempts by his political allies to extend his rule beyond his 2028 second term constitutional limit to 2030 or further.
Although Mnangagwa claims he is not interested because he is a “constutionalist” – which is ironic for a leader who came to power through a coup – his allies, at his behest, are pushing for a resolution at the conference for him to continue in power beyond his two constitutional terms.
The Mutare resolution will give effect to the Bulawayo decision last year to extend Mnangagwaโs rule. Mnangagwa and Chiwenga are at war over that as it is driven by the succession agenda.
In his document, Chiwenga drags in Moyo into the fray. Chiwenga and Moyo, who were once neighbours in Greystone Park suburb in Harare, have had a complicated love-hate political relationship for sometime. Prior to the 2017, they initially were political allies, but fell out over how to manage Mugabe’s exit.
Moyo wanted them to work with Mugabe to give him a soft landing on his way out through a smooth congress process, but Chiwenga, then a Mnangagwa ally, wanted to drive him out via a coup to protect his own interests and those of his allies. Chiwenga and Moyo’s rivalry was part of a wider factional infighting within Zanu PF between two warring groups loyal to Mugabe and Mnangagwa.
Zanu PF has never had a smooth since its formation in 1963. Mugabe himself had grabbed power from the party’s founding leader Ndabaningi Sithole in a prison coup in the mid-1970s. Having taken over effectively in Chimoio, Mozambique, in 1977 at the height of the liberation struggle, Mugabe led Zanu PF for 40 years and ruled for 37 years until 2017 when he was removed in a putsch.
As a prominent Zanu PF official, party political strategist and minister, Moyo, a professor of politics, was aligned with the “G40” faction supporting Mugabe and his wife Grace.
They wanted the then Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi to succeed Mugabe. The “Lacoste faction” backed Mnangagwa.
The military, under Chiwenga’s command, targeted this group, calling it “criminals around the President”, and forced Moyo and others into exile, including to South Africa where former senior Zanu PF officials like Saviour Kasukuwere and Patrick Zhuwao, Mugabe’s nephew, currently live.
Moyo is exiled in Nairobi, Kenya, yet his political influence in Zimbabwe is still deeply felt.
Others are in Zambia and Mozambique.
On the night of the coup on November 14, 2017, Chiwenga’s troops violently stormed Moyo’s house, using explosives to blow up the gate and smash their way in amid explosions and gunfire.
However, Moyo had already evacuated his family to Kasukuwere’s home in the neighbourhood after a tip-off as the coup unfolded movie-style.
But the two cornered Zanu PF movers, along with their families, were attacked at Kasukuwere’s home, although they eventually managed to escape the raid and flee in terror to Mugabe’s residence.
They remained holed up there for days before their dramatic escape to exile, first to Mozambique and then Kenya. Kasukuwere then relocated to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prior to that, Chiwenga and Moyo had intensely clashed publicly, especially over the controversial command agriculture programme in which millions were said to have been stolen and succession issues. Moyo then said command agriculture, which he described as “command ugly culture”, was about looting to fund the coup.
In a backlash, Chiwenga threatened Moyo over his criticism of the military’s role in the command agriculture programme and warned he would deal with him. Moyo responded defiantly, escalating the war of words, in the months and days leading to the coup.
As the head of the military, Chiwenga mainly orchestrated the coup under Mnangagwa’s tutelage. He later became Vice-President in the new government led by Mnangagwa who had been in exile in South Africa for just two weeks after he was fired by Mugabe as vice-president in early November 2017.
Chiwenga was later accused of “treasonable conduct” by the Zanu PF leadership at the time for his actions against Mugabe, something he now accuses Moyo of. After the coup, Chiwenga and Moyo continued to clash over politics and personal issues.
Chiwenga even filed a US$5 million defamation suit against Moyo in March 2018 over allegations he had made about the Vice-President’s University of KwaZulu-Natal PhD, which he said was written for him. The matter was settled out of court.
While Moyo has now ceased attacks on Mnangagwa and Chiwenga, his role from exile in the Great Lakes is still stirring the pot, as he is now accused of treasonous conduct by his old friend and later nemesis, a renewed ominous threat which portends political trouble in Zimbabwe ahead with potential further destabilising consequences against a backdrop of Zanu PF’s crucial conference starting tomorrow.
The post Power, Treason and Succession: Leaked Chiwenga Dossier Exposes Deep Rift in Zanu PF Ahead of Mutare Conference first appeared on The Zimbabwe Mail.