Harare, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s two vice presidents, Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, failed to attend a high-level ZANU-PF meeting convened by President Emmerson Mnangagwa this week, a public snub that has laid bare the deepening fissures inside the country’s ruling party and raised fears of a fresh leadership crisis in a nation already buckling under economic collapse.
The meeting, described by party insiders as a routine consultative gathering of the Politburo, was held at the party’s headquarters in Harare. While Mnangagwa presided, the empty seats of his two deputies sent a clear and deliberate message: the factional war that has simmered since the 2017 military-backed ouster of Robert Mugabe is no longer being fought in whispers. Chiwenga and Mohadi, representing different wings of the party, have publicly embarrassed the president in a move that analysts say could accelerate a succession struggle still years from resolution.
A Public Snub
The snub comes at a particularly volatile moment. Zimbabwe is grappling with hyperinflation, a collapsing currency, and widespread public anger over corruption and mismanagement. Mnangagwa’s government has faced increasing international isolation, and the ruling party’s internal cohesion is seen as the last pillar holding the regime together. That pillar is now visibly cracking.
Chiwenga, a former army general who orchestrated the 2017 coup that brought Mnangagwa to power, has long been seen as the president’s most formidable rival. His absence from a meeting chaired by Mnangagwa is widely interpreted as a declaration that he no longer considers himself subordinate. Mohadi, the other vice president, is a veteran party loyalist but has recently aligned himself with Chiwenga in a tacit coalition against Mnangagwa’s inner circle.
Political analyst Dr. Tawanda Nyambirai, a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, said the walkout—or rather, the no-show—represents a “dangerous escalation.” He noted: “When vice presidents openly defy the president in a party that operates on absolute loyalty, you are not looking at a disagreement over policy. You are looking at a coup in slow motion.”
