TEMBA MLISWA FIRES BACK AT JEALOUSY MAWARIRE OVER ZANU PF FACTIONAL FIGHTS: “THEY WERE PROTECTING MNANGAGWA”

FORMER MP CLAIMS CANCELLED POLITBURO MEETING THWARTED A MOVE AGAINST THE PRESIDENT AS DEBATE OVER ZANU PF SUCCESSION INTENSIFIES

Former Norton legislator Temba Mliswa has weighed in on the growing debate surrounding alleged factional fights within ZANU PF, accusing political commentators, including Jealousy Mawarire, of exaggerating internal party developments to portray President Emmerson Mnangagwa as being under siege.

In a Facebook post titled “SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT,” Mliswa challenged the narrative surrounding the cancellation of a scheduled ZANU PF Politburo meeting, arguing that the decision was intended to protect Mnangagwa rather than undermine him.

Mliswa accused what he described as opposition fringe elements of relying on alleged divisions within the ruling party to maintain their political relevance, claiming they were turning internal party discussions into evidence of a wider political crisis.

“What transpired yesterday bears no resemblance whatsoever to the sensational narrative Jealousy has desperately attempted to sell to the public,” Mliswa wrote.

He also criticised what he characterised as the tendency to portray Vice President Constantino Chiwenga as the central figure in every reported ZANU PF factional dispute.

MLISWA ALLEGES A PLOT AGAINST MNANGAGWA

In his account of the events leading to the cancellation of the Politburo meeting, Mliswa alleged that the postponement prevented a group of senior party figures from introducing constitutional changes without the knowledge or approval of Mnangagwa and the party's Secretary-General.

He identified the group as a “Gang of Four” and named ZANU PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi as one of its alleged members.

According to Mliswa, the group was not genuinely committed to the 2030 agenda and Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3), which are associated with efforts to extend Mnangagwa's political tenure.

Mliswa further alleged that the proposed constitutional changes would separate the positions of ZANU PF President and State President, potentially allowing the party leader to exercise powers over the removal of the person holding the country's presidency.

He argued that such changes would create a mechanism through which a party president could engineer the recall of a sitting State President.

“These were not party positions; they were the product of power-hungry scheming by a group intent on cornering due process,” he claimed.

These allegations remain Mliswa's account of the events and would require independent confirmation of the proposed amendments, their authorship and the circumstances surrounding the meeting's cancellation.

“A PROCEDURAL COUP” AGAINST MNANGAGWA?

Mliswa went further, describing the alleged attempt to introduce the constitutional changes as a “procedural coup” against Mnangagwa.

He maintained that the move had been detected and blocked before it could be implemented, insisting that the cancellation of the meeting was necessary to prevent what he portrayed as an attempt to weaken the President's position within the ruling party.

The former legislator argued that commentators portraying the cancelled meeting as evidence of Mnangagwa's vulnerability were misreading the situation.

In his view, the intervention was designed to protect the President from an alleged manoeuvre by people within his own political establishment.

“It is therefore deeply ironic that in their excitable haste to attack President Mnangagwa, characters like Jealousy find themselves celebrating an intervention that was in fact mounted to protect the very leader they claim is under siege,” Mliswa wrote.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE ZANU PF SUCCESSION BATTLE?

The controversy comes amid continuing public debate over ZANU PF's internal power dynamics, the 2030 agenda, CAB3 and the political future of Mnangagwa and Chiwenga.

While Mliswa's post offers an alternative explanation for the cancelled Politburo meeting, it also introduces fresh allegations about divisions among senior party figures and disagreements over proposed constitutional changes.

His account challenges the interpretation that the cancellation necessarily demonstrated weakness on Mnangagwa's part. Instead, he presents it as evidence that those around the President were acting to safeguard his position.

However, the competing interpretations raise important questions: What constitutional amendments were actually due to be discussed? Who proposed them, and were they formally submitted for consideration? What reasons did party officials give for cancelling the meeting?

Until those questions are answered with verifiable evidence, Mliswa's claims should be distinguished from independently established facts.

For a party whose internal decisions can have consequences for Zimbabwe's national leadership, the dispute highlights how disagreements over succession, constitutional reform and political authority can quickly become subjects of competing public narratives.

THE BIG QUESTION: Was the cancelled Politburo meeting an effort to protect Mnangagwa from an alleged internal manoeuvre, as Mliswa claims, or does the episode point to deeper disagreements within ZANU PF over the party's future leadership?

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