As the Zanu-PF succession war intensifies, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has issued a stern warning, telling senior party members to fall in line, stressing that individualism has no place within his party.
Mnangagwa addressed a Politburo meeting at party headquarters in Harare on Wednesday, amid escalating tensions within Zanu-PF as rivals jostle to succeed him in 2028, when his current term expires.
Party spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa told the press a couple of weeks ago that controversial business tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei, the newly co-opted Zanu-PF Central Committee member, could not buy his way to the top of the party leadership. He asserted that measures to halt Tagwirei's bid to rise to the Central Committee had been put in place.
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However, weeks later, Zanu-PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Patrick Chinamasa dismissed Mutsvangwa's attempt to block Tagwirei's ascent into the party's Central Committee as a wasted effort, via a post on social media platform X.
Mnangagwa convened the Politburo meeting in the absence of his deputy, Constantino Chiwenga, who is understood to be in India on state business.
Chairing Wednesday's Politburo meeting, Mnangagwa warned that the "bad apples" determined to tear the party apart must be cautioned.
"Tactics and political chicanery meant to mislead, confuse, as well as divide the Party and nation, must be nipped in the bud.
"We must all speak with one voice and march in one direction. Leaders of the Party are bound by collective responsibility and must unite around Party decisions and resolutions which serve as our ideological and moral compass. Hauroti zvinhu kumba kwako woenda uchitaura sehurongwa hweMusangano," he said.
Mnangagwa further urged party members to communicate with discipline, as officials have been using social media to attack each other while the power struggle intensifies.
"Our communication must be disciplined. MuZANU PF tinomira pachokwadi. Zvemazvake mazvake, pasi nazvo."
Zanu-PF factionalism is becoming increasingly apparent, with two distinct groups - one aligned to Mnangagwa and the other to Chiwenga - seeking to outmanoeuvre one another.
Mnangagwa views controversial tenderpreneurs like Kudakwashe Tagwirei and Wicknell Chivayo as genuine philanthropists, while Chiwenga has labelled them "zvigananda" - those who loot state resources to enrich themselves at the expense of impoverished Zimbabweans.
This division between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga has become so evident that it seems only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose.
Mnangagwa is allegedly seeking to extend his term beyond 2028, although he has publicly denied this ambition on more than one occasion.
Chiwenga is projecting himself as an anti-corruption champion, asserting that he will not tolerate corruption at any cost, describing it as a threat to national security.
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