Tagwirei assisted in Zanu-PF's 2013 election victory

ZANU-PF politburo member Webster Shamu has revealed that the ruling party relied on businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei's support to secure victory in the 2013 general elections.

Shamu, who served as Zanu-PF's national political commissar at the time, disclosed this during a provincial coordinating committee meeting in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West province. Now the party's national deputy secretary for commissariat, he said Tagwirei provided crucial financial assistance, helping the party with fuel and transport:

"For us to win the elections in 2013, let me say something that has never been said in public, the person whom we banked our hopes on was Tagwirei; he assisted us with fuel and transport while we were at the commissariat department," Shamu said.

The 2013 elections saw Zanu-PF, then under former President Robert Mugabe, competing against the late Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T. Zanu-PF ultimately won a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Earlier this year, Sports Minister Anselem Sanyatwe praised Tagwirei for his contribution to the agricultural sector, noting that the Tagwirei-led command agriculture programme helped the country avoid severe food shortages.

Tagwirei was recently co-opted into the Zanu-PF central committee under Harare province and has since been attending rallies, publicly praising President Emmerson Mnangagwa for improving the country's economic situation.