In a sign of a major political shift in the balance of forces in Zanu PF politics, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s two key allies among war veterans, Christopher Mutsvangwa and Victor Matemadanda, were routed at the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association elective congress in Gweru yesterday.
Mutsvangwa, who was the last elected war veterans leader in 2013 at a congress in Masvingo, was heavily defeated by a landslide by Cephas Ncube from Bulawayo province at the congress held at the Zanu PF Convention Centre in the Midlands capital.
War veterans, an important political constituency in Zanu PF, have been struggling to hold their elective congress, having skipped the 2018 one.
The fact that the shock defeat of the vocal Mutsvangwa and Matemadanda came at the heart of Mnangagwa’s political stronghold left a more dramatic impact.
Ncube got 294 votes, while Mutsvangwa, a political bigwig, came last with a paltry 11 votes, underlining his unpopularity.
So Ncube becomes the new chairperson of the war veterans, their top leader.
Matemadanda, a Mnangagwa loyalist, came a distant third with 75 votes.Albert Ncube from Matabeleland North came second with 90 votes.
Shorai Nyamangondo was elected vice chairperson unopposed.
Other members of the new executive are Joel Murerengwa (Secretary-General), Thomas Manyima (Legal Affairs), Vincent Chinone (Transport), Section Ncube (Finance), Sanik Nguni (Security), Cde Nyembesi Togara (Women Affairs) and Samuel Parirenyatwa (Political Commissar).
So this means there are three Ncubes in the war veterans executive.
The Ncubes are pro-Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, while Mutsvangwa and Matemadanda are political allies of Mnangagwa despite being sidelined of late due to internal contradictions.
When Mnangagwa came to power in 2017, Mutsvangwa was his adviser and on his second administration he was Minister of War Veterans.
However, Mutsvangwa was fired as adviser in 2018 and yet again removed as minister in February this year.
Matemadanda, who is currently ambassador to Mozambique and the outgoing war veterans secretary-general, was Zanu PF political commissar.
The defeat of Mutsvangwa, a former ambassador to China, and Matemadanda ahead of Zanu PF’s annual conference on 22 October in Bulawayo shifts the balance forces in Chiwenga’s favour in a critical Zanu PF constituency.
Mnangagwa and Chiwenga are locked in a fierce power struggle over the unsettled Zanu PF leadership question.
They are fighting for the control of the levers of state power.
This comes as Mnangagwa is trying to extend his rule beyond his 2028 constitutional second term limit to 2030, although he publicly denies it.Chiwenga and his faction are opposed to Mnangagwa’s continued stay in power, particularly beyond 2028.
Mnangagwa’s rule has not changed much in Zimbabwe for the better after the departure of the late former president Robert Mugabe as he has provided more continuity than the much-needed clean break with the past.
