Three traditional leaders, including Chief Fortune Charumbira, have been recalled from the Senate, the government has confirmed.

Local Government and Public Works Permanent Secretary Tafadzwa Muguti said in Harare on Tuesday that the Masvingo Provincial Assembly of Chiefs met on 14 September and resolved to recall Charumbira, Chief Nhema and Chief Chitanga. The announcement came a month after that meeting. The third chief’s name is spelt Chitanga by The Herald and NewZimbabwe.com and Chiranga by ZimLive.

Muguti said the Senate president had been served with the recall papers, as had the president of the National Council of Chiefs, Chief Mtshana Khumalo, according to The Herald. He said the three chiefs themselves had also been notified.

He described the recall as regrettable and said legal processes for the chiefs’ formal removal from the Senate will now follow. Elections will then be held to choose their replacements.

None of the three reports that AllInZimbabwe reviewed gave a reason for the recall, and the chiefs had not publicly responded in the coverage we read. We will update this story if the chiefs or the National Council of Chiefs comment.

Sources: Local Government permanent secretary Tafadzwa Muguti as reported by The Herald, NewZimbabwe.com and ZimLive.

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has disowned letters that purported to recall Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart and several of the party’s legislators, calling them baseless and raising fresh questions over who can act in the name of the divided opposition party.

According to CITE, NewZimbabwe.com and The Zimbabwean, the letters are dated 7 October 2026 and claim that the officials have ceased to be CCC members. CITE and The Herald report that they were addressed to Parliament and to Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe, with CITE adding that Speaker Jacob Mudenda and Senate President Mabel Chinomona were also named as recipients.

Reports differ on how many people were targeted. CITE says the letters named Coltart and three MPs: Surrender Kapoikilu (Bulawayo Central), Corban Madzivanyika (Mbizo) and Togarepi Zivai Mhetu (Epworth North). NewZimbabwe.com and The Zimbabwean list a fifth name, Bulawayo senator Ivumile Kucaca Phulu. The Herald reports Coltart and three MPs without naming them.

In a statement, CCC interim national spokesperson Nqobizitha Mlilo said the recalls have no factual, political or legal basis and do not reflect the party’s position. He told the affected representatives to continue their duties and said their tenure is secure until at least 2030.

The party said preliminary internal investigations had identified the people behind the letters, but it did not name them. It said their conduct may amount to contempt of court and that legal counsel had been briefed.

CITE and The Zimbabwean report that Sengezo Tshabangu, who describes himself as the party’s interim secretary-general, said the letters did not come from the party and were “not true”. Both outlets also report that the letters were issued by Mbuso Siso, who describes himself as interim treasurer-general and who withdrew a High Court challenge to his removal by Tshabangu in April. AllInZimbabwe has not independently verified who sent the letters and has not obtained comment from Mr Siso.

None of the reports sets out the legal basis for the recalls or establishes who inside the CCC is entitled to initiate one, a question that remains unresolved while rival factions claim leadership of the party.

Sources: CITE, NewZimbabwe.com, The Zimbabwean, The Herald.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has split Zimbabwe’s finance ministry in two and appointed businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei to run the new economic development and investment promotion portfolio, the Herald, Nehanda Radio and ZimLive reported.

Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Martin Rushwaya announced the changes on Thursday 8 October, saying they took immediate effect under Section 104(1) of the Constitution. Professor Mthuli Ncube was reassigned as Minister of Finance. According to the Herald, he keeps responsibility for national budgeting, public finance management, resource mobilisation and macro-economic policy, while Tagwirei will focus on economic growth, attracting investment and strengthening productive sectors.

Tagwirei, who heads Sakunda Holdings, remains under sanctions in both Washington and London, according to ZimLive and Nehanda Radio. Both outlets report that the United States first sanctioned him in August 2020 and that Britain followed in July 2021. They say he stayed on the US blacklist under the Global Magnitsky programme when Washington ended its wider Zimbabwe sanctions programme in March 2024.

The US Treasury alleged he used his relationship with senior officials to win state contracts and preferential access to foreign currency. The UK government alleged that Sakunda redeemed Treasury bills at up to ten times their official value. Nehanda Radio notes that the Zimbabwean government and Zanu PF have repeatedly rejected Western sanctions as politically motivated.

ZimLive argued that a minister tasked with courting foreign money may find investors from the US and UK legally or reputationally unable to deal with him. Nehanda Radio said the government statement did not explain how any conflict of interest between his private business and his public role would be managed.

Both outlets link the promotion to speculation over Mnangagwa’s succession, noting Tagwirei’s rapid rise from Zanu PF donor to presidential adviser, central committee member and, last month, senator.

Sources: The Herald, Nehanda Radio, ZimLive.