Chiwenga faction thwarts Tungwarara bid for central committee

Zanu-PF has blocked an attempt by its Manicaland provincial leadership to co-opt President Emmerson Mnangagwa's adviser, Paul Tungwarara, into the party's powerful central committee, ruling that the move violated party procedures and warning against what it described as creeping vote buying.

The intervention was contained in a December 11 letter from Zanu-PF national political commissar Munyaradzi Machacha to Manicaland provincial chairperson Tawanda Mukodza, in which he nullified Tungwarara's elevation by the provincial coordinating committee (PCC) at a meeting held on December 7.

Machacha said the PCC had ignored guidelines issued by the party's legal affairs department, which stipulate that any replacement for a vacant central committee seat must come from the same administrative district as the departing member. Tungwarara had been selected to fill a vacancy left by Dorothy Mabika, who hailed from Chipinge.

"The said co-option has been nullified with immediate effect," Machacha wrote, stressing that any replacement "must originate from Chipinge administrative district" in line with Zanu-PF's proportional representation requirements across districts.

In a pointed warning, Machacha also cautioned against inducements during internal party processes, saying the "issuance of money, goods or services" to influence outcomes would be treated as vote buying and would result in automatic disqualification.

Tungwarara, who has accumulated significant wealth through opaque state-linked contracts, has been accused by rivals of distributing cash and buying food for PCC delegates who supported his attempted co-option, allegationsanu PF sources said.

Following the intervention, the Manicaland provincial leadership has been instructed to restart the process, this time strictly adhering to the legal affairs department's circular.

Once a relatively peripheral political figure, Tungwarara has risen rapidly within Zanu-PF circles through a series of high-profile initiatives run under the President's name. These include the Presidential Borehole Scheme, the Presidential Stands for Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Programme, the Presidential War Veterans Fund and the Presidential Solar Programme.

His nationwide cash handouts and lavish sponsorship of party activities have unsettled some senior figures within Zanu-PF, who privately warn that money is increasingly shaping internal power dynamics.

With some party members now touting him as a potential future presidential candidate, Tungwarara is widely seen as keen to accelerate his ascent within the ruling party. Securing a seat in the 300-member central committee is viewed as a critical step in that political climb.