Zanu-PF's current 'struggles with a struggle'

Zanu-PF has suspended the Presidential Economic Empowerment Revolving Fund following internal complaints that its chief proponent, Special Presidential Investment Adviser Paul Tungwarara, was using the platform to launch sustained attacks against the ruling party's key financier, businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei.

The fund was suspended with immediate effect on January 23, 2026, by Zanu-PF National Political Commissar Munyaradzi Machacha, acting at the behest of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Both Tagwirei and Tungwarara are regarded as close allies of President Mnangagwa, but play markedly different roles in his political ecosystem. Tagwirei is widely known as a principal financier of Zanu-PF, while Tungwarara is seen as a key funder and organiser of presidential programmes and activities.

A senior official in the Zanu-PF commissariat department confirmed the suspension in a written response, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The Presidential Economic Empowerment Revolving Fund was suspended by the President and First Secretary of the Party, President E.D. Mnangagwa, in consultation with the National Political Commissar Munyaradzi Machacha and Secretary-General Advocate Jacob Mudenda," the official said.

"This followed complaints by some senior officials that the fund's main proponent, Paul Tempter Tungwarara, who is the President's Special Presidential Investment Adviser, was using it as a platform to attack other Cdes, especially Kudakwashe Tagwirei.

"This was seen as dividing the party and creating disharmony. The fund was suspended and will only resume under new guidelines to be issued by the national commissar on the future distribution, utilisation and management of the fund."

In recent months, Tungwarara had openly used empowerment rallies linked to the fund to launch scathing attacks on Tagwirei, branding him "power-hungry" and unfit to be President. He accused the businessman of plotting to replace Mnangagwa and of allowing supporters to refer to him as "His Excellency" in social media groups backing an alleged presidential bid.

At a rally in Manicaland province, Tungwarara went further, publicly questioning Tagwirei's leadership credentials, liberation struggle credentials and fitness to govern, at one point even mocking the way he walks, saying he "does not walk like a President".

Party insiders claim Tungwarara's attacks were tacitly sanctioned by Mnangagwa as a strategy to slow what they describe as Tagwirei's "runaway" succession campaign, which had begun to dominate internal party discourse and intensify factional tensions.

Tagwirei has been viewed as a rising contender in Zanu-PF's increasingly fraught succession battle, alongside Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga and former Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, retired General Phillip Valerio Sibanda.

Following Tungwarara's public outbursts, the party leadership moved swiftly to curb his influence, resulting in the suspension of the empowerment fund.

Political analysts say the developments reflect deepening factionalism within Zanu-PF, describing the situation as "factions within factions" or what some term the party's ongoing "struggle with a struggle".

Tagwirei is believed to enjoy support from senior party figures including Jacob Mudenda, Munyaradzi Machacha, Treasurer-General Patrick Chinamasa and Harare provincial chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa. Tungwarara, on the other hand, is aligned with party spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa and his wife Monica, Secretary for Information Communication Technology Obert Mpofu and other influential party officials.

Despite the suspension of the fund, Tungwarara has remained defiant, publicly claiming he is fighting "extortionists" within the ruling party.

Notably, just weeks before the feud became public and increasingly acrimonious, Tungwarara and Tagwirei were seen meeting to "brainstorm strategies" for 2026 empowerment initiatives — an episode that insiders now say underscored the fragility of their relationship and foreshadowed its rapid collapse.