ZANU-PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa has refuted claims that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is the presumptive successor to President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the end of his second and final term in 2028.
In an interview with The Standard, Mutsvangwa denied the existence of any pact or agreement between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga that would guarantee the latter’s ascension to the presidency after they collaborated in the military-led transition that brought Mnangagwa to power in November 2017.
Mutsvangwa also said Mnangagwa does not have the power to unilaterally endorse a preferred candidate to succeed him when his current term expires in 2028. Said Mutsvangwa:
ZANU PF is not a church where people can be anointed, and the president is not the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury who anoint priests
If you think you’re worth it, go and sell yourself to the people. If you clamour for anointment by the president, it means you have failed the litmus test of being a ZANU PF leader.
ZANU PF is not a secret society and there is no secret agreement on succession. People are going to vote their leaders from the grassroots level.
Mutsvangwa has not only refuted claims of a predetermined succession plan for Chiwenga but he has also been reported to quietly harbour ambitions to succeed Mnangagwa. He said:
Some of us were very involved in this thing in 2017. We know where the allegiances of each and every person lay at that particular time but we don’t mention it.
Mutsvangwa insinuated that Chiwenga held a secret meeting with Mugabe while the coup was in progress as he wavered on whether to see it through.
He also said even if Mnangagwa were to endorse Chiwenga as his successor, this would be resisted. Said Mutsvangwa:
You want to become a leader by induction, like a magnet saying ‘because I am a piece of iron I must also be magnetised by the president?’ Even if the president said there was a secret agreement, we would censor him.
That’s why the president was very clear on his tenure. He cleansed himself. Why, when he has done his job very well as a Democrat, would he choose to exit by donating the seat to someone else?
ZANU PF last held its elective congress in December 2022, with the next one scheduled for 2027. The 2027 congress is expected to be the platform where Mnangagwa’s successor will emerge.
The military has historically played a major role in ZANU-PF’s internal politics and could still make a decisive intervention in support of its favoured candidate as happened in 2017.
More: Pindula News