Mutsvangwa in fresh Chiwenga attacks

Zanu-PF spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa has reignited political tensions within the ruling party after claiming that the 2018 White City Stadium grenade attack, which nearly claimed President Emmerson Mnangagwa's life, was an "inside job" orchestrated by senior party insiders.

Speaking during a fiery press briefing in Harare on Thursday, Mutsvangwa alleged that the assassination attempt on 23 June 2018 was part of a broader internal plot to remove Mnangagwa from power just weeks before that year's general elections. His remarks come amid escalating succession tensions between Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga ahead of the Zanu-PF annual conference set for Mutare, which Mnangagwa will address on Friday.

Mutsvangwa's outburst marks one of his most direct confrontations yet with Chiwenga, whom he accused of being a power-hungry opportunist with an inflated sense of entitlement to rule. He described the Vice-President as a "mucheka dzafa" - a Shona idiom for a self-serving opportunist - claiming that Chiwenga believes leadership is his birthright despite joining the Zanla forces late in the liberation struggle.

"The war was fought by many, not just one man," said Mutsvangwa, asserting that Chiwenga "was not even at the Zanla battlefront until late 1978 in Mozambique." He added that the independence war was won through the joint efforts of Zanla and Zipra forces under Zanu and Zapu, respectively, and accused Chiwenga of rewriting history for political gain.

The outspoken Zanu-PF spokesperson further claimed that Chiwenga is attempting to topple Mnangagwa through proxies, including war veterans' leader Blessed Geza and other loyalists behind the planned "one million man march" expected on Friday. Mutsvangwa accused the Vice-President of using the veterans' movement and factional gatherings as tools to undermine Mnangagwa's authority.

Referring to a recent confidential document reportedly authored by Chiwenga and published by The NewsHawks, Mutsvangwa said the Vice-President had tried to "turn the presidium into a Kangaroo Court" to attack Mnangagwa and accuse his allies of corruption. He added that the attempt "boomeranged badly" and has left Chiwenga "isolated and exposed in his power play sideshow."

Despite the heated rhetoric, Mutsvangwa reserved strong praise for Mnangagwa, portraying him as a steady leader guiding Zanu-PF through internal turbulence. He also commended the late Zanu chairman Herbert Chitepo for forging Zimbabwe's historical ties with China in the 1960s, highlighting his meeting with future Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping as a foundation of modern Zimbabwe-China relations.

As Zanu-PF gathers in Mutare for its annual conference, the party is expected to review key political and economic developments from the past year through the Central Committee report. However, insiders say the meeting is likely to be overshadowed by the intensifying succession battle - now openly spilling into public view - between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga.