According to
the constitution, Mnangagwa must retire in 2028 after serving two terms of five
years each but there is now concerted lobbying by a faction loyal to him to
change the constitution to help him hang on to power.
The campaign is
backed by a coterie of controversial businessmen, who have been donating money
and luxury vehicles to the affiliates that claim to be pushing for economic
development.
Almost every
week, there is a new affiliate that announces its arrival, including bizarre
ones like TopSoup4ED.
Harare last
week witnessed the official launch of Ama2K4ED where a staggering US$700 000
was raised through donations from controversial businessmen.
Former Zimbabwe
national soccer team coach Sunday Chidzambwa and ex-Highlanders player Gift
Lunga Junior appeared in short videos pledging allegiance to a hitherto unknown
organisation referred to as Former Footballers and Coaches4ED.
This
publication has since established that Zanu PF’s commissariat department
submitted the first batch of 70 organisations seeking affiliate status with the
ruling party.
Critics said
the sprouting of the affiliates was
driven by patronage, fear and internal power calculations.
The
organisations cut across a broad spectrum of sectors, and include groupings
such as teachers, journalists, doctors, artisans, miners, mechanics and
farmers, alongside faith-based, youth, women’s and pensioners.
The
commissariat department said more applications continue to be received and will
undergo the same registration and verification processes.
“They are meant
as alternative avenues to campaign for Mnangagwa's extension of his
presidential term to 2030,” said analyst Jealousy Mawarire
He said the
affiliates were also avenues for corruption by Zanu PF benefactors and
tenderpreneurs.
“The so-called
financiers help themselves to state resources on the pretext that the money is
going to these affiliates,” Mawarire said.
“They get
government tenders, they extort foreign investors, demanding 5-10% from their
investments and this money is used to find the affiliates, debauchery and the
move towards illegally extending Mnangagwa’s tenure as president so the looting
continues with presidential immunity.”
MDC-T
information and publicity officer Chengetai Guta described the affiliate
programme as a “smokescreen” meant to legitimise Zanu PF’s long-term political
ambitions.
“These
so-called affiliates are meant to create the illusion that the 2030 agenda is
unstoppable. It is an elaborate hoax designed to drain people’s hope,” Guta
said.
Labour,
Economists and Afrikan Democrats
president Linda Masarira described the affiliation drive as a “survival
and accumulation strategy.”
“Zanu PF is no
longer just a political party, but a gateway to the state,” Masarira said.
“They are
registering in the hope of accessing vehicles, allowances, farming inputs and
protection.
“At the end of
the day, this looks like a patronage-driven expansion rather than ideological
growth.”
Political
analyst and Chinhoyi University of Technology part-time lecturer Catherine
Maboya said the development should be viewed through the lens of Zanu PF’s
succession politics.
“This is about
creating parallel structures and internal power balancing,” Maboya said.
“Zanu PF has a
long history of manufacturing structures to dilute counter-balancing factions.
“Affiliates are
used to undermine existing party organs, create loyalists outside formal
structures and influence conferences, congresses, party primary elections and
succession battles.”
Another
Chinhoyi-based analyst, Marvelous Chichetu, said the rise in affiliates was
driven more by fear than loyalty.
“This is
fear-driven alignment, not popularity or confidence in leadership,” Chichetu
said.
“People
affiliate for protection because neutrality has become dangerous under the
current political system.”
Opposition
leader Wurayayi Zembe said many affiliates were motivated by financial gain.
“Zanu PF has
become a commodified and commercially corrupted enterprise,” Zembe said.
“These
affiliates expect immediate benefits, not governance based on conviction,”
Centre for
Natural Resource Governance director Farai Maguwu accused some mining
affiliates of exploiting political alignment to engage in illegal activities.
“Politics has
become the biggest enterprise in the country. If you affiliate to Zanu PF, you
gain access to resources and, more importantly, impunity,” Maguwu said.
“Some mining
affiliates are criminals smuggling minerals under the cover of political
affiliation.”
Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou also condemned
education-sector affiliates, labelling them “criminals and conmen.”
“They swindle
money from already suffering teachers in the name of empowerment, charging up
to US$50 for so-called workshops under the Teachers4ED banner,” Zhou said.
Justice
minister Ziyambi Ziyambi who is also the party’s legal secretary, has been
directed to initiate legal processes to implement the 2030 resolution.
In 2023, a
shadowy Zanu PF affiliate, the Forever Associates Zimbabwe (FAZ) with reported
links to the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), was accused of
undermining Zanu PF structures to engineer Mnangagwa’s re-election.
A number of
election observers including from the Southern African Development Community
(Sadc) flagged FAZ for wrongdoings including the intimidation of opposition
supporters.
The FAZ also
ran Zanu PF’s primary elections, and left the party divided.
Zanu PF
director of information, Farai Marapira, however, said the growing number of
affiliates showed the party’s popularity.
“The big number
is testament that Zanu PF has solutions to the problems affecting people,”
Marapira claimed.
“It shows that
citizens are taking advantage of the opportunities that come with aligning with
Zanu PF.
“They want to
work and be part of Zanu PF. It is the only party that embodies and encompasses
everyone.”
On more than
five occasions this year Mnangagwa said he was not interested in remaining in
power beyond his current term, but has not done anything to stop those pushing
the 2030 agenda. Standard
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