The deepening factional battles within Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF party have once again erupted into the public eye as President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched a stinging attack on his rivals led by Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga. Addressing the party’s politburo in Harare, Mnangagwa branded them as wolves in sheep’s clothing, a phrase that tears open the festering wounds within the ruling elite. His words were not just an attempt to assert dominance but a loud confirmation that the centre can no longer hold in Zanu PF.
Chiwenga’s camp, emboldened by support from powerful military elements, has become more aggressive in its campaign to unseat the president. Once allies in the 2017 coup that removed Robert Mugabe, the relationship has now decayed into a dangerous game of political brinkmanship. War veterans, long considered a loyal arm of Zanu PF, have turned their backs on Mnangagwa. Their statement that the president has failed and must step down is not just a warning shot—it is a declaration of war.
Mnangagwa attempted to project authority by portraying himself as the guardian of Zanu PF’s ideology. He scolded his detractors for spreading what he called unfortunate and misplaced narratives and called on members to remain loyal both day and night. But in the face of rising inflation, economic collapse, and growing national discontent, his appeals are meaningless. His leadership is not uniting the party. It is further fragmenting it.
The truth is glaring. Zanu PF’s internal conflict is not about ideology or national interest. It is a bloody tug-of-war between two camps intoxicated by power and desperate to control the state machinery. While they clash behind closed doors and trade insults in public, ordinary Zimbabweans are bearing the brunt. Prices soar daily. Hospitals lack medicine. Young people are fleeing the country in droves. The regime offers no solutions. It is preoccupied with survival.
Mnangagwa’s reference to the Chitepo School of Ideology as a way to restore discipline within the party is a joke in bad taste. No ideological school will fix a system that is broken at its core. The factions are not fighting over principle. They are fighting over positions. They are fighting over who gets to loot next.
Chiwenga and his allies clearly believe Mnangagwa has served his purpose and must now be discarded. Their confidence is rising because they know the president’s base is shrinking. When the war veterans speak out, it sends shockwaves. They helped install this regime. Now they are demanding its leader’s removal. That is a signal that cannot be ignored.
As the Zanu PF house burns, the opposition remains sidelined not by choice but by force. Yet the real danger to Mnangagwa is no longer the Citizens Coalition for Change or civic activists. His biggest threat is now from within. The beast is devouring itself. The very forces that elevated him to power are sharpening their knives.
This is the beginning of the end. Whether Mnangagwa clings on for a while longer or is booted out by his comrades, Zanu PF is imploding. The cracks are too deep. The betrayals too bitter. What once appeared like a monolithic party is crumbling under the weight of greed, fear, and betrayal.
The real tragedy is not that Zanu PF is collapsing. It is that millions of Zimbabweans are still trapped in its burning wreckage. They did not ask for this war. They are just trying to survive it.
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