Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF used its 23rd National People’s Conference in Chinhoyi to back President Emmerson Mnangagwa and push its next elective congress back to 2029, in a set of resolutions whose meaning is already being argued over.

The Sunday Mail, carried on the Herald’s website, reported that Secretary for Legal Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi read out the resolutions at the close of the conference. The party will amend its constitution to align its electoral cycle with the national Constitution, shifting its congress from 2027 to 2029. Mnangagwa stays party president until then and was confirmed as the party’s presidential candidate for the next elections. Provincial speakers told delegates the decision reflected consultations from cell to provincial level.

Africanews, using AFP and AP material, reported that the party endorsed Mnangagwa to remain leader beyond 2028, and said he told delegates the movement “can never be stopped”. It also noted criticism of the party’s direction from the opposition, civil society and rights groups, and reported divisions inside Zanu-PF over who should come next.

The reading of the resolution is where accounts diverge. State media presents the outcome as backing for Mnangagwa through 2030. Writing on Nehanda Radio, University of the Western Cape researcher Phillan Zamchiya argued that the resolution concerns the party presidency at the 2029 congress, not the state presidential election. He pointed to the party’s own constitution, which requires a congress to elect its president before that person is declared the state candidate, and to national constitutional limits on presidential terms. He concluded it is not established that Mnangagwa is the 2030 state candidate.

Zamchiya did acknowledge that the party leader has traditionally been the state presidential candidate, and that the Sunday Mail reported the conference as confirming Mnangagwa as candidate.

What the resolution means in practice will become clearer when the party amends its constitution and the 2029 congress is convened.

Sources: The Herald (Sunday Mail), Africanews (AFP/AP), Nehanda Radio.

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga used his address to the Zanu-PF national conference in Chinhoyi on Friday to ask whether the ruling party is repeating the mistakes that led to Robert Mugabe’s removal in 2017.

“What made the Second Republic to be there? The Second Republic came about to correct the mistakes of the past. Are we not repeating the same mistakes?” Chiwenga said, according to Nehanda Radio. ZimLive reported the same exchange, quoting him as saying the question was one the party “should be asking ourselves”.

Chiwenga also questioned whether party resolutions truly come from members. “Are our resolutions truly coming from the people?” he asked, calling for “a brutal and honest self-appraisal”. He said the party’s strength comes from its grassroots.

Nehanda Radio noted that he did not explicitly mention the 2017 military intervention, nor the proposed extension of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s time in office beyond his constitutional term ending in 2028. ZimLive made the same point, but said his remarks were widely read as a challenge to the way that extension is being pursued.

ZimLive reported that Mnangagwa responded by defending his government’s economic record, citing growth, lower inflation and improvements in infrastructure. AllInZimbabwe has not independently verified the economic figures he cited, and they are not repeated here.

Both outlets placed the exchange against a backdrop of mounting tension inside Zanu-PF. Nehanda Radio reported that an extraordinary politburo meeting set for October 9 to consider changes to the party constitution did not take place, with the party blaming a clash of programmes. Both outlets also pointed to the rapid rise of businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei, now a cabinet minister and a member of the politburo.

The conference was due to end on Saturday, when the party was expected to release its resolutions.

Sources: Nehanda Radio; ZimLive.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei to Zanu-PF’s politburo, according to a party statement issued on Thursday 15 October and reported by New Zimbabwe and ZimLive.

The statement, signed by party spokesman Christopher Mutsvangwa, appoints Tagwirei, who is now a senator, to a redesignated post of Secretary for Economic Affairs and Investment Promotion, as quoted by New Zimbabwe. Both outlets say the change follows his recent appointment to Cabinet as minister of economic development and investment promotion, a post he took up last week.

The same statement moves Obert Mpofu to the party’s Council of Elders. The two outlets differ on the portfolio Mpofu previously held: New Zimbabwe describes him as formerly Secretary for Science and Technology, while ZimLive says he was secretary for information technology. Mayor Wadyajena has been appointed a member of the Central Committee, according to both reports.

Tagwirei’s rise has been rapid. Both outlets note that he was among the senators appointed by the president after Parliament passed Constitutional Amendment Act 3, which extended Mnangagwa’s term from 2028 to 2030. His Senate seat opened the way to his Cabinet appointment.

New Zimbabwe and ZimLive both place the move against the backdrop of the succession debate in the ruling party, and both mention Vice President Constantino Chiwenga as a figure with presidential ambitions. Both also report speculation that Tagwirei harbours ambitions of succeeding Mnangagwa. The reports do not carry any response from Tagwirei, Chiwenga or Mpofu to the changes.

Sources: New Zimbabwe, ZimLive, citing a Zanu-PF statement.