HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Mashonaland East provincial chairman, Daniel Garwe, has told party structures there will be “no elections in 2028” — remarks that appear to confirm an ambitious push by Mnangagwa’s allies to extend his second and final term by two years.
Addressing a Zanu PF district coordinating committee on August 11, Garwe said Vision 2030 — Mnangagwa’s economic blueprint — was “unstoppable” and “no-one born of a woman” could halt it.
“There is no election. DCC, do you hear? There are no elections. We’re going to 2030 building the country, whether they like it or not, shame or no shame, we’re unstoppable,” Garwe said, in an apparent swipe at Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, the leading contender to succeed Mnangagwa.
He mocked unnamed rivals, claiming one “plucked a live black chicken” in a bid to take power, adding: “The one ruling is Mnangagwa… Don’t kill chickens in vain.”
Extending Mnangagwa’s term beyond the constitutional limit will require amendments to the country’s supreme law — a move expected to draw fierce resistance from the opposition and from some within Zanu PF.
Party insiders told ZimLive Mnangagwa has privately maintained he will step down when his term ends in 2028. Behind the scenes, however, his allies are working on a succession plan to block Chiwenga’s ascendancy by elevating sanctioned business tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei to the party presidency at a Zanu PF congress in 2027.
Under the scheme, Mnangagwa would resign on schedule, allowing Tagwirei — by then appointed vice president — to finish the extended presidential term through to 2030.
The plot, if successful, would mark the first time in Zimbabwe’s history that a business figure, rather than a career politician or military leader, takes the country’s top job.
