Zimbabwe denies leadership schism as ruling party meets

The conference will focus on turning the nation to an upper middle-income society by 2030 and the state of the economy, amid the continued weakness in the ZiG.

A senior Zimbabwe government official refuted claims that a rift has emerged between the president and his deputy as the ruling party holds an annual conference.

The meeting, which runs until Sunday in the nation’s second-biggest city of Bulawayo, is not an “elective conference” where the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic-Front will choose new leaders, said Information Minister Jenfan Muswere. President Emmerson Mnangagwa is both the leader of Zanu-PF and government, he said.

Muswere was responding to local media reports in the run-up to the conference of a widening schism between the president and his deputy, Constantino Chiwenga, which they claim formed after Mnangagwa’s supporters called for his current term to be extended by two years until 2030. Mnangagwa has previously denied he plans to prolong his tenure.

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“Effectively there is no vacancy in the office of the president and that of the party leadership which is properly constituted in terms of respective constitutions,” Muswere said Wednesday in a post on X. “There’s no room for theatrics in manufacturing of fiction through imaginary mandates and those bent on misinforming the people shall be dealt with in terms of the law.”

Chiwenga, who helped Mnangagwa take power from Robert Mugabe in a military-assisted coup in November 2017, is widely seen as his successor. Mnangagwa is yet to publicly endorse Chiwenga, fanning speculation over their relationship. “There is singleness in unity, love, comradeship and harmony in the presidium and in government,” added Muswere. “Thus there is no discord in the cockpit.”

The conference will focus on turning the nation to an upper middle-income society by 2030 and the state of the economy, amid the continued weakness in the ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold. The bullion-backed currency has lost more than 50% of its value against the dollar since debuting in early April, in part due to a devaluation last month. That’s dashed hopes that it would displace the US dollars used in most transactions in the country.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube skipped the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund in Washington this week to attend the Zanu-PF conference. He’s expected to give party delegates an update on the economy.

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