Mnangagwa's meeting with editors was a calculated power play

In February this year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa held a private meeting at State House in Harare with a select group of media editors - a gathering that, on the surface, appeared to be an informal engagement to clarify his position on Zimbabwe's succession debate. However, behind the scenes, the meeting was part of a deeper and more complex political chess game orchestrated by his long-serving spokesman, George Charamba, amid growing factional tensions within Zanu-PF.

According to sources familiar with the event, the editors' briefing was not a routine media interaction but a carefully choreographed move by Charamba, who allegedly sought to corner Mnangagwa on the succession power struggle and extract a public stance that could favour Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, his long-time political ally.

Charamba, insiders say, handpicked the editors - deliberately excluding others from both state and private media - to control the narrative and stage-manage questions that would expose Mnangagwa's ambiguous position on the third-term issue.

While the President used the meeting to project himself as a constitutionalist committed to stepping down when his second term ends in 2028, those who have closely followed the behind-the-scenes manoeuvres interpreted the move as political theatre meant to manage growing pressure inside Zanu-PF and from the public.

"The editors thought they were getting a candid explanation," one political observer noted, "but in truth, they were being managed. Each side - Mnangagwa and Charamba - had its own agenda. The President wanted to neutralize criticism over his term-extension ambitions, while Charamba sought to pin him down publicly in favour of Chiwenga's succession path."

Despite Mnangagwa's assurances during the meeting, scepticism persisted. Many Zimbabweans questioned why, if he was sincere, the President did not make a formal national announcement declaring that he would leave office in 2028 and instruct his party to cease pursuing constitutional amendments that would allow him to stay longer.

The private meeting took place amid escalating tensions between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga, particularly after sections of Zanu-PF began pushing for a constitutional amendment to extend Mnangagwa's rule beyond the two-term limit.

Now, following the Zanu-PF Annual People's Conference in Mutare, which formally adopted a resolution supporting the President's continued rule until 2030, Mnangagwa's earlier assurances appear hollow - reinforcing long-held suspicions that he has been misleading the public while carefully navigating internal power dynamics.

Political analysts have long argued that Mnangagwa's calculated messaging on the term-limit issue mirrors a broader continental pattern, where leaders have sought to extend their stay in power under the guise of "continuity" or "stability."

As The NewsHawks and other independent platforms previously reported, Mnangagwa's real ambition has been to secure a third term, but he has tried to reframe it as a two-year extension, avoiding direct comparisons to discredited third-term bids that have destabilised several African states.

What unfolded in Mutare has now exposed the contradictions and political deception at the heart of Zanu-PF's leadership struggle - a party torn between dynastic continuity and constitutional legitimacy, with Mnangagwa and Chiwenga locked in a quiet but fierce battle for control of the post-2028 political landscape.

In the end, the February editors' meeting was less about clarifying policy and more about performing control - a glimpse into how Zimbabwe's ruling elite continues to play politics with the nation's democratic future.