Author: TSA Press

2.
Comrade
President,
in
November
2017,
we
took
a
bold
and
necessary
step
to
remove
former
President
Robert
Mugabe
from
power,
because:

• he
  sought
  to
  manipulate
  our
  Constitution
  for
  personal
  gain.
• he
  allowed
  certain
  individuals
  and
  family
  to
  seize
  his
  executive
  authority
  and
  abuse
  it.
• he
  ignored
  the
  suffering
  of
  the
  people
  while
  a
  corrupt
  elite
  looted
  with
  impunity.
  •he
  turned
  ZANU-PF
  into
  a
  personal
  fiefdom,
  disregarding
  its
  founding
  values.

3.
During
November
2017,
we
risked
everything
–
our
lives,
our
freedom,our
futures
–
to
restore
and
defend
our
legacy,
the
Party
and
the
Constitution

4.
Today,
history
is
repeating
itself
in
the
most
shameful
way
Comrade
President.
Why
we
find
ourselves
in
this
situation
is
both
shocking
and
shameful.

5.
Comrade
President,
on
several
occasions
and
even
abroad,
you
have
informed
the
nation
that
you
are
a
Constitutionalist
and
yet
it
is
now
clear
for
anyone
to
see
that
the
so-called
2030
Agenda
to
extend
your
term
of
office
is
real
and
alive,
and
this
has
now
taken
us
back
to
the
ills
that
led
us
to
November
2017.

6.
Moreover,
the
drivers
of
this
so-called
2030
Agenda
have
now
made
corruption,
looting
of
our
state
coffers
and
bribery
of
our
structures
the
cornerstone
of
their
contribution
to
this
campaign,
and
this
is
now
destroying
our
Party
and
violating
our
Constitution.

7.
We
are
witnessing
in
shock
as
some
of
our
officials
in
the
Party
and
Government
have
now
become
a
law
unto
themselves
and
are
even
announcing
to
our
people
at
gatherings
that
we
are
no
longer
holding
elections
in
2028.
These
are
critical
announcements
on
matters
that
we
as
a
Presidium
and
the
Central
Committee
have
never
discussednor
did
we
pass
a
resolution
at
the
last
2022
Congress.

8.
The
reality
which
is
clearly
emerging
is
that
this
2030
Agenda
is
being
funded
and
driven
by
known
criminals
who
have
brazenly
looted
our
state
coffers
with
impunity
and
are
now
using
these
resources
whose
capture
and
control
of
our
Party
is
unprecedented
and
deeply
worrying.

9.
We
surely
cannot
fold
our
hands
and
watch
these
criminals
like
Kudakwashe
Tagwirei,
Wicknell
Chivhayo,
Scott
Sakupwanya,
and
Delish
Nguwaya,
amongst
others,
structures
and
in
the
process
destroy
our
Party.

10.
Comrade
President,
these
criminals
and
their
associates
have
been
engaged
in
a
brazen
and
systematic
campaign
and
stealing
from
our
Government
and
to
date,
they
have
stolen
more
than
US$3.2
billion
of
Government
funds
through:

• 10.1
  the
  stealing
  of
  our
  US$1.9
  billion
  from
  the
  Ministry
  of
  Finance
  to
  Kudakwashe
  Tagwirei
  for
  selling
  a
  35%
  stake
  in
  Kuvimba
  Mining
  House.
• 10.2
  the
  stealing
  of
  state
  assets
  like
  Sandawana
  Mines
  and
  the
  Zimbabwe
  Defence
  Forces’
  Great
  Dyke
  Investments
  by
  Kudakwashe
  Tagwirei,
  and
  inclusion
  of
  these
  assets
  in
  his
  fraudulent
  stealing
  of
  our
  US$1.9
  billion.
• 10.3
  the
  stealing
  and
  concealment
  by
  Kudakwashe
  Tagwirei
  of
  the
  Party’s
  45%
  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.
• 10.4
  the
  stealing
  by
  Wicknell
  Chivhayo
  of
  US$45
  million
  of
  our
  money
  from
  the
  Zimbabwe
  Election
  Commission.
• 10.5
  the
  stealing
  by
  Wicknell
  Chivhayo
  of
  state
  funds
  more
  than
  US$193
  million
  from
  our
  government
  coffers
  through
  one
  bank
  in
  our
  country
  and
  we
  know
  that
  he
  has
  stolen
  some
  horrific
  amounts
  from
  our
  Government
  coffers
  through
  other
  banks
  in
  our
  country.
• 10.6
  the
  stealing
  of
  more
  than
  US$800
  million
  from
  Government
  coffers
  by
  Scott
  Sakupwanya
  through
  the
  so-called
  gold
  incentive
  scheme,
  which
  has
  now
  been
  made
  into
  a
  tollgate
  fraud.
• 10.7
  the
  stealing
  of
  US$162
  million
  of
  public
  funds
  by
  Delish
  Nguwaya
  through
  his
  irregular
  and
  inflated
  Geo
  Pomona
  contract
  with
  the
  City
  of
  Harare.
• 10.8
  the
  stealing
  of
  more
  than
  US$60
  million
  of
  Government
  funds
  by
  Delish
  Nguwaya
  through
  his
  irregular
  and
  inflated
  Clean
  Planet
  Resources
  contract
  with
  the
  Ministry
  of
  Health/NatPharm.

11.
The
actions
of
these
criminals,
which
also
include
turning
your
Private
office,
Comrade
President,
into
a
place
where
key
Government
decisions
are
made,
demand
that
strong
action
be
taken
immediately
to
preserve
our
Party
and
stability
in
our
Country.

12.
Comrade
President,
we
discussed
issues
around
the
Land
Tenure
Implementation
Committee
and
we
as
a
Presidium
and
Cabinet
appointed
the
Party
Chairman,
Comrade
Muchinguri
to
lead
this
process
and
report
back
on
how
best
we
can
approach
this
but
to
our
shock
and
disbelief,
Kudakwashe
Tagwirei
is
now
running
with
this
and
reversing
the
Land
Reform
Program,
completely
going
against
the
resolutions
we
made
at
the
2022
Congress.

13.
Furthermore,
Comrade
President,
these
criminals
have
polluted
the
concept
of
Affiliates
that
we
set
up
to
support
the
Party.
The
clear
intentions
that
we
had
of
how
these
Affiliates
should
complement
the
Party
have
now
been
completely
hijacked
by
these
criminals,
and
we
are
now
seeing
Affiliates
being
more
resourced
and
becoming
more
powerful
and
influential
than
our
Organs
of
the
Party.

14.
Comrade
President,
you
recall
I
brought
to
your
attention
the
treasonous
project
which
has
been
penned
by
Jonathan
Moyo
for
our
Parliament
to
implement,
the
so-called
Breaking
Barriers
Initiativewhich
is
seeking
to
change
our
political
system
and
suspend
elections
to
2035.
Not
only
is
this
Project
treasonous
and
a
huge
scandal,
and
its
being
done
and
championed
by
people
like
Jonathan
Moyo,
whom
we
fired
from
the
Party.
This
Breaking
Barriers
Initiative
has
also
never
been
discussed
and
approved
at
the
Party’s
last
Congress,
nor
has
it
ever
been
discussed
and
approved
by
the
Central
Committee.
We
are
now
watching
in
shock
and
disbelief
as
this
project
is
now
being
covertly
implemented
and
being
funded
by
these
criminals,
Kudakwashe
Tagwirei,
Wicknell
Chivhayo,
Scott
Sakupwanya,
and
Delish
Nguwaya,
and
their
associates.

15.
Comrade
President,
tirikuti
vanhu
ava,
Kudakwashe
Tagwirei,Wicknell
Chivhayo,
Scott
Sakupwanya,
and
Delish
Nguwaya,
and
their
associates,
ngavasungwe,
immediately
for
these
unprecedented
crimes
they
have
committed.

16.
Tingarambe
takatarisa
vanhu
vachiba
more
than
US$3.2
billion
in
cash
from
our
state
coffers
while
our
people
are
suffering
out
there?
Even
mealie
meal
is
now
running
out
because
of
maize
shortages
while
we
are
prioritising
paying
these
criminals,
ma
hospitals
are
running
out
of
critical
medicines
and
now
the
same
people
who
are
stealing
our
assets
and
resources
are
now
using
these
resources
to
hijack
power,
corrupt
our
structures
and
destroy
our
Party?

17.
Comrade
President,
the
time
for
silence
and
inaction
is
over,
and
we
cannot
allow
these
criminals
who
have
stolen
from
our
Government
coffers
and
our
Party
to
start
using
the
same
resources
to
bribe
fellow
comrades
and
our
structures
to
get
their
support,
defend
and
protect
them.

18.
These
criminals
are
not
just
enriching
themselves;
they
are
using
their
stolen
wealth
to
capture
our
Party,
manipulate
state
institutions,
and
compromise
key
officials.
They
are
creating
a
parallel
power
structure
funded
by
the
very
state
they
are
destroying.
This
cannot
be
tolerated
for
a
single
day
longer.

19.
The
time
for
silence
and
inaction
is
over,
Comrade
President.
We,
as
the
Party’s
Presidium,
have
serious
issues
to
immediately
deal
with
that
will
define
our
future,
and
we
must
immediately
prioritise
cleaning
our
house,
reclaim
our
State
and
our
Party
from
the
capture
by
Kudakwashe
Tagwirei,
Wicknell
Chivhayo,
Scott
Sakupwanya,
and
Delish
Nguwaya
and
their
associates.
We
need
to
reaffirm
the
sacred
principles
of
the
revolution
and
our
legacy,
the
future
of
our
nation,
and
the
faith
of
our
people
depend
on
the
decisive
actions
we
take
now.

20.
I
submit
Comrade
President.

On
a
hot
summer
morning,
I
sat
for
a
bit
watching
a
black-headed
heron
sifting
through
the
golden
stubble
of
a
newly
harvested
crop.
It
was
a
beautiful
day:
a
deep
blue
sky,
very
little
wind,
and
trees
alive
with
birds.
I
lingered
a
while,
letting
the
peace
and
beauty
soak
in,
gathering
my
wits
to
face
the
whispers
of
what
I
suspected
lay
ahead.

Zimbabwe
is
being
chipped
away,
one
shovel
at
a
time,
one
excavator
scoop
at
a
time,
one
mine
truck
at
a
time.
It’s
the
second
land
invasion,
people
say
–
but
is
that
really
what’s
going
on,
or
is
it
really
the
orgy
of
self-enrichment,
corruption,
and
plundering
by
people
in
positions
of
power
and
authority?

On
a
14km
stretch
of
road
just
beyond
Darwendale
village,
most
signs
of
normal
life
are
gone.
No
sign
of
farms,
crops,
villages
or
homes.

This
14km
stretch
of
road
leading
to
the
boundary
with
National
Parks’
Darwendale
Dam
is
an
ugly,
scarred
wasteland.

Huge
mine
dump
trucks
loaded
with
soil
and
rocks
roar
across
the
plains
leavings
clouds
of
red
dust
in
their
wake.

They
don’t
slow
down
as
they
reach
the
tar
road
–
so
watch
out,
because
these
are
the
untouchables.

The
Chinese
are
mining
here
and
their
chrome
pits,
trenches,
and
mounds
of
black
soil,
red
soil
and
rocks
stretch
as
far
as
the
eye
can
see
on
both
sides
of
the
road.

The
devastation
is
everywhere

Across
the
plains,
up
the
hillsides,
and
even
underneath
the
main
electricity
pylons
feeding
the
national
grid,
the
devastation
is
everywhere.
An
excavator
is
at
work
up
a
steep
hill,
swinging
its
long
arm
again
and
again
as
it
scrapes
up
our
precious
earth
and
dumps
it
into
waiting
trucks,
suffocating
dust
hanging
in
our
beautiful
blue
sky.

The
sight
of
it
makes
you
heartsore,
so
heartsore.

A
couple
of
brave
souls
are
trying
to
graze
their
cattle
among
the
abandoned
mounds
of
rocks
and
between
the
trenches,
but
it’s
a
treacherous
place.

People
say
that
when
a
cow
or
calf
falls
into
one
of
the
pits
or
trenches,
they
get
stuck
or
break
their
legs
and
there
is
no
way
to
get
them
out.

A
woman
tells
me
that
when
the
Chinese
do
their
blasting
at
night,
the
explosions
shake
their
windows
and
crack
the
walls
of
their
houses
2km
away.
“It’s
awful,
so
awful,”
she
says,
“everything
has
been
completely
destroyed.
These
people
don’t
care.
No
one
can
stop
them.”

You
can
see
the
march
of
the
Chinese
and
their
yellow
excavators
along
this
14km
stretch
of
road
by
the
trail
of
destruction
they
leave
behind.

There
is
no
sign
anywhere
of
any
attempt
at
reclamation
of
the
land. They
dig
their
holes,
pits
and
trenches,
extract
our
minerals,
and
then
leave,
doing
nothing
to
fill
holes,
flatten
mounds
or
re-establish
vegetation.

Take
this
picture
and
replicate
it
in
Hwange,
Mutoko,
Shamva,
Makoni,
Haruni,
Magunje,
Chihota,
Mazowe,
Chiadzwa,
Uzumba
and
so
many
other
places.
Take
it
into
mountains
and
escarpments
such
as
at
Boterekwa
in
Shurugwi,
the
Muvaradonha
Wilderness
in
Muzarabani,
and
now
even
in
Christmas
Pass.
Nowhere
is
safe
from
the
mining
scourge
now.

Who’s
to
blame?

It’s
easy
to
blame
the
Chinese
miners,
who
have
a
bad
human
rights
track
record
in
Zimbabwe
–
but
the
real
question
is:
how
are
they
getting
away
with
it,
why
are
they
untouchable,
who
is
protecting
them?

Former
energy
minister
Fortune
Chasi
this
week
spilled
the
beans.

“Local
officials
sign
the
licences,
local
elites
pocket
the
‘facilitation
fees’,
local
silence
allows
rivers
to
turn
into
sludge,”
he
said.

“Every
destroyed
riverbed
tells
a
local
story,
a
signature,
a
bribe,
a
blind
eye
…
This
isn’t
a
‘Chinese
problem.’
It
is
a
governance
problem
… The
Chinese
did
not
destroy
our
mountains
and
rivers.
Our
signatures
did.”

Stark
honesty
from
an
ex-minister,
but
it’s
a
shame
he
didn’t
say
it
when
he
was
still
in
office.

Long-term
loss

But
it’s
not
just
the
pits,
mounds
and
trenches
in
Darwendale,
or
the
sludge
in
rivers;
it’s
the
cyanide
and
mercury
poisoning
our
rivers
and
devastating
aquatic,
bird
and
wild
life;
the
long-term
soil
contamination,
the
loss
of
biodiversity
and
habitat,
and
the
widespread
erosion,
siltation
and
pollution.

Everywhere
communities
are
losing
their
ancestral
homelands
and
being
silenced
with
short-term,
cheap
‘compensation’
such
as
a
fence
or
a
pump
or
a
few
dirty
dollars.

Long
after
the
Chinese
miners
have
left
we
will
all
feel
the
effects
of
this
out-of-control
mining.

While
people
say
nothing,
do
nothing,
and
look
the
other
way
our
beautiful
country
is
being
torn
apart,
ravaged,
looted
and
destroyed
by
the
untouchables,
and
by
those
in
power
in
Zimbabwe
who
give
them
permission
to
do
so.

Please
use
your
voice
to
share
this
news
and
help
us
to
stop
this
before
it’s
too
late.

©
Cathy
Buckle

The
warning
comes
amid
social
media
reports
suggesting
that
some
party
members
may
plan
to
heckle
Vice
President
Constantino
Chiwenga
during
the
event,
as
debates
over
succession
continue
to
intensify.

Chiwenga
was
heckled
at
the
National
Heroes
Acre
during
the
burial
of
national
hero
Justin
Mupamhanga
on
27
January
2025.

Information
Technology
Minister
Tatenda
Mavetera,
leading
the
Young
Women
4
ED
group
aligned
with
Mnangagwa,
led
chants
targeting
Chiwenga.

They
sang
“mupanduki
mupanduki
chera
mwena
nguva
yakwana”
—
which
translates
to
“sellout,
sellout,
dig
a
hole,
the
time
has
come”.

Chiwenga
is
widely
seen
as
the
frontrunner
to
succeed
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
in
2028,
when
his
second
term
expires,
although
Mnangagwa’s
loyalists
are
pushing
for
an
extension
of
his
tenure
to
2030.

ZANU
PF
Director
of
Communications,
Farai
Marapira,
stressed
that
the
National
People’s
Conference
is
a
formal
meeting
of
delegates,
leaving
no
room
for
heckling.
He
said:

“We
are
not
going
to
a
rally.
We
are
going
to
a
conference.
This
is
not
a
free-for-all.
This
is
a
meeting
of
delegates.
This
is
a
meeting
of
leadership.
There
is
no
time
to
heckle.

“This
is
just
once
again
social
media
trying
its
best
to
push
agendas
on
us
as
ZANU-PF.
But,
of
course,
it
will
fail.”

In
recent
days,
social
media
has
been
flooded
with
claims
that
ZANU
PF
youths
are
being
bused
to
Mutare
in
Manicaland
province
with
the
sole
purpose
of
booing
Chiwenga.

Marapira
dismissed
such
reports,
saying
those
promoting
the
claims
are
ignorant
of
the
party’s
internal
procedures.
He
said:

“This
issue
of
being
bused
to
boo,
how
are
they
going
to
enter
when
they
are
not
accredited?
We
are
not
accrediting
crowds,
we
are
accrediting
delegates.

“This
is
mischief
being
created
by
people
who
are
ignorant
of
the
ways
of
the
party
and
how
it
conducts
its
conferences.”

The
alleged
plans
to
heckle
Chiwenga
come
as
the
Vice
President
has
repeatedly
spoken
out
against
corruption,
which
he
describes
as
a
threat
to
national
security.

He
has
consistently
condemned
“zvigananda”,
a
term
meaning
leeches,
referring
to
individuals
who
flaunt
wealth
acquired
through
the
siphoning
of
public
resources
via
inflated
government
tenders.

A
YEAR
ago,
at
its
annual
Conference,
Zanu
PF
passed
the
notorious
Resolution
No.
1.
The
resolution,
a
vulgar
piece
of
unmitigated
buffoonery,
attempts
to
extend
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s
tenure
beyond
the
term
fixed
by
congress
in
2022
and
effectively
calls
for
subverting
the
national
constitution
to
achieve
that
end.

The
measure
is
both
egregious
and
unlawful,
chiefly
because
it
conflicts
with
Zanu
PF’s
own
constitutive
instruments.

Congress
v
Conference

Zanu
PF’s
congress,
which
meets
once
every
five
years,
is
the
party’s
supreme
decision‑making
body.

Depending
on
which
of
the
three
un-ratified
2022
constitutions
one
reads,
this
authority
is
set
out
in
section
23
or
27
in
materially
similar
terms.
The
provision
confers
on
congress
the
following
powers:

“Congress
shall
be
the
supreme
policy
making
organ
of
the
Party
and
shall
have
the
following
powers
and
functions:-

(1)
to
elect
the
President
and
First
Secretary
of
the
Party,
who
shall
automatically
become
the
sole
candidate
of
the
State
President
in
the
ensuing
elections;”

In
accordance
with
this
provision,
congress
in
2022
elected
Mnangagwa
as
Zanu
PF’s
candidate
for
the
2023
elections.
This
election
was
for
a
five-year
period.

By
design,
congress
is
the
body
that
meets
to
select
the
party’s
candidate
for
any
general
elections
and
Mnangagwa’s
incumbency
draws
its
lifeblood
from
the
2022
congress
resolution.
No
Zanu
PF
member
can
seek
or
maintain
state
or
party
power
as
the
president
post
2028
without
the
authority
of
congress.

Two
points
emerge
and
must
detain
me:

–
the
party
constitution
is
tailored
so
that
congress
precedes
a
general
election
for
the
purpose
of
selecting
a
presidential
candidate;
and

–
as
a
contractual
and
constitutional
instrument,
the
party
constitution
cannot
validly
contain
provisions
that
conflict
with
the
national
constitution
and
any
such
conflicting
provision
is
void.

Thus,
there
is
no
valid
basis
within
Zanu
PF’s
constitution
for
declaring
a
candidate
beyond
the
2028
elections
more
so
if
this
is
coming
from
an
organ
inferior
to
congress.
Any
attempt
to
do
so
would
violate
the
party’s
own
constitution
and
would
subordinate
congress
to
the
Mai
Welly-twerking-transactional
politics
that
we
now
see
on
display

The
national
conference
meets
annually
and
its
powers
include
receiving
central
committee
reports,
reviewing
implementation
of
central
committee
programmes,
making
resolutions
for
implementation
by
the
central
committee
declaring
the
president
elected
at
congress
as
the
party’s
state
presidential
candidate.

Outside
a
determination
made
by
congress
and
that
only
for
a
period
of
five
years,
the
national
conference
cannot
transact
any
business
bearing
on
the
question
of
a
national
leader
as
is
the
purport
of
Resolution
1.

Crucially,
the
national
conference
does
not
have
the
power
to
elect
the
party’s
presidential
candidate;
it
can
only
declare
an
election
already
made
by
congress.

Last
year’s
conference
resolution
purporting
to
elect
or
rather
select
Mnangagwa
for
a
period
outside
that
fixed
by
congress,
and
calling
for
subversion
of
congress’s
decision
to
achieve
the
purpose,
was
therefore
unlawful
under
any
of
the
three
constitutional
texts
that
are
fraudulently
used
by
Zanu
PF.

Mnangagwa’s
position
is
not
a
legitimate
matter
for
internal
debate
at
this
year’s
conference.
In
fact
concerned
Zanu
PF
members
can
stop
their
party—either
by
judicial
decree
or
through
legitimate
political
maneuvering—from
becoming
engaged
with
this
issue.

Put
in
very
simple
terms,
the
question
of
the
possible
extension
of
Mnangagwa’s
position
cannot
be
debated
by
the
national
conference.
It
is
an
act
ultra
vires.

Zanu
PF
must
abide
by
its
own
rules
and
by
the
national
constitution.
It
cannot
lawfully
transact
business
in
breach
of
those
instruments
or
call
for
their
subversion.
This
festival
of
absurdities
and
illegality
must
be
stopped.

The
men
within
Zanu
PF,
if
there
be
any
(not
vanoda
kuchengeta
vana),
should
confront
these
breaches
and
insist
on
adherence
to
both
the
party
constitution
and
the
constitution
of
the
land.

Thabani
Mpofu
is
an
advocate
in
Zimbabwe’s
superior
courts