LONDON
–
In
2017,
General
Constantino
Chiwenga,
as
head
of
Zimbabwe’s
armed
forces,
led
the
military
coup
which
brought
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
to
power
and
won
Chiwenga
the
vice
presidency.
The
two
have
since
fallen
out
and
are
fighting
over
Mnangagwa’s
apparent
desire
to
stay
in
office
for
an
unconstitutional
third
term.
In
September
2025,
Chiwenga
brought
the
fight
to
the
Zanu
PF
politburo,
the
party’s
highest
decision
making
body.
The
Vice
President
submitted
a
dossier
alleging
that
criminals
surrounding
the
president
were
corrupting
the
ruling
party.
The
document, obtained
by
ZimLive,
contained
an
explosive
allegation
concerning
Kudakwashe
Tagwirei,
a
close
ally
of
Mnangagwa
and
rumoured
to
be
a
rival
candidate
to
Chiwenga
to
succeed
the
President,
and
fuel
giant
Sakunda
Holdings.
Sakunda’s
joint
venture
with
commodity
trading
giant
Trafigura
sold
fuel
worth
between
$600
million
and
$800
million
each
year
in
the
2014
to
2017
period,
while
from
2016
to
2019
Sakunda
received
over
US
$1
billion
in
public
funds
to
buy
seed
and
fertiliser
in
the
controversial
Command
Agriculture
programme.
Specifically,
Chiwenga
complained
of:
the
stealing
and
concealment
by
Kudakwashe
Tagwirei
of
the
party’s
45
percent
shareholding
in
Sakunda
Holdings
held
by
Mvuto
Investments
(Private)
Limited,
an
investment
vehicle
of
the
party
held
through
our
National
Reconstruction
Group,
which
was
purchased
in
November
2013.
In
October
2025,
Zanu
PF’s
legal
secretary
Ziyambi
Ziyambi
hit
back
at
Chiwenga,
circulating
a
rebuttal
document.
Ziyambi
denied
that
the
party
holds
shares
in
Sakunda,
although
he
maintained
a
careful
silence
about
the
National
Reconstruction
Group
and
Mvuto
Investments.
Who
is
behind
Mvuto
Investments
and
the
National
Reconstruction
Group?
In
2014,
Mvuto
Investments’
shareholders
were
Happyton
Bonyongwe
–
the
then
director
general
of
the
Central
Intelligence
Organisation
(CIO),
the
country’s
spy
agency
–
and
two
former
ministers:
Walter
Chidhakwa
and
Joel
Biggie
Matiza.
Mvuto’s
links
to
the
CIO
do
not
end
there.
The
company’s
registered
address
was
the
fifth
floor
of
Livingstone
House,
an
address
frequently
used
by
the
CIO
to
register
its
companies.
Further,
Mvuto
and
Sakunda
appear
to
share
the
same
company
secretary,
who
had
also
played
a
similar
role
at
a
CIO-controlled
firm.
Maurice
Makoni
was
appointed
as
the
company
secretary
for
Mvuto
Investments,
Todware
Investments,
a
CIO-linked
solar
energy
company,
and
Sakunda
Holdings
in
2014.
The
National
Reconstruction
Group’s
existence
was
first
inadvertently
revealed
by
Bonyongwe,
when
the
former
spy
chief
gave
evidence
to
a
parliamentary
inquiry
into
the
CIO’s
co-ownership
of
Kusena
Diamonds,
a
mining
company.
He
left
his
briefing
papers
on
public
view,
showing
that
the
CIO
owned
10
percent
of
Kusena,
with
40
percent
held
by
the
National
Reconstruction
Group,
“which
represented
Zanu
PF.”
The
National
Reconstruction
Group
had
also
purchased
agricultural
goods
worth
$2
million
in
2013.
These
may
have
been
used
by
Zanu
PF
for
distribution
in
rural
areas
to
help
buy
votes
in
the
election
that
year.
Did
Mvuto
Investments
really
own
45
percent
of
Sakunda?
Sakunda’s
records
at
Zimbabwe’s
deeds
registry
(which
frequently
has
filings
that
are
out
of
date
or
incomplete)
do
not
mention
Mvuto
Investments.
The
Chief
Operating
Officer
of
Sakunda
has
claimed
in
parliamentary
hearings
that
54
percent
of
the
company
is
owned
by
Tagwirei,
with
the
remaining
46
percent
held
by
Tagwirei’s
wife,
Sandra
Mpunga.
However,
Chiwenga’s
pointed
mention
of
the
National
Reconstruction
Group,
the
presence
of
the
former
CIO
boss
on
the
board
of
Mvuto
Investments,
and
Tagwirei’s
experience
with
hidden
ownership
structures
raises
the
possibility
that
this
might
not
be
the
whole
story.
Sakunda’s
beneficial
owners
may
also
have
changed
over
time.
One
source
in
a
position
to
know
said
that
they
were
unaware
of
Mvuto
when
they,
the
source,
were
appointed
to
the
position
in
which
they
had
access
to
relevant
information
in
2018
but
claimed
that
Mnangagwa
played
a
role:
“Kuda
[Tagwirei]
always
said
Sakunda
was
not
just
his,
and
the
president
was
also
owner
[sic].”
If
Chiwenga
was
right,
how
much
would
Zanu
PF
have
lost?
Suppose
Chiwenga
was
correct,
and
the
National
Reconstruction
Group
really
should
have
owned
45
percent
of
Sakunda
via
Mvuto
Investments—did
the
ruling
party
lose
out
financially?
We
can
provide
a
partial
answer
by
comparing
the
audited
accounts
of
Sakunda
Supplies,
Sakunda
Holding’s
joint
venture
with
Trafigura,
and
a
leaked
spreadsheet,
first
obtained
by
the
Organised
Crime
and
Corruption
Reporting
Project,
which
details
offshore
payments
to
Tagwirei.
If
the
allegation
made
by
the
Vice
President
is
correct,
the
relationship
between
Sakunda
Holdings,
Sakunda
Supplies,
and
Mvuto
Investments
should
have
looked
like
this:
One
standard
route
for
a
shareholder
to
get
paid
is
through
dividends,
paid
out
of
post-tax
profits.
However,
many
privately
owned
companies
seek
to
report
lower
profits,
which
incur
corporate
income
taxes,
and
instead
to
extract
value
in
other
ways.
This
is
the
pattern
we
see
at
Sakunda
Supplies.
Tagwirei
was
contractually
entitled
to
fees
from
Trafigura
that
dwarfed
the
dividend
payments.
During
the
2014–2017
period,
Tagwirei
received
$23.7
million
offshore,
while
any
45
percent
shareholder
of
Sakunda
Holdings—in
this
scenario,
Mvuto—would
have
earned
less
than
$1
million
from
Sakunda
Supplies’
dividends,
assuming
that
Sakunda
Holdings
itself
paid
any
dividend
during
that
period.
Trafigura
declined
to
comment
to
The
Sentry
but
had
previously
told
the
OCCRP
that
the
details
presented
to
the
firm
by
the
media
organization
were
“factually
inaccurate.”
Tagwirei
also
told
the
OCCRP
that
he
denied
all
the
accusations
put
to
him
but
did
not
respond
to
The
Sentry’s
request
for
comment.
Chiwenga’s
allegations
have
not
been
answered
adequately
by
Zanu
PF’s
legal
secretary,
and
both
the
party
and
Sakunda
still
have
questions
to
answer
about
their
precise
relationship.
If
Zanu
PF
did
hold
a
hidden
stake,
then
these
leaked
financial
documents
suggest
the
vice
president
may
have
a
point
when
he
complains
of
‘concealment.’
This
article
was
originally
published
by The
Sentry