HARARE – Zanu-PF Treasurer-General Patrick Chinamasa has announced that the ruling party received a US$50,000 donation from South Africa-based chrome mining company FS Mining, fronted by its CEO Precious Mabuza, the daughter of the late former South African Deputy President David Dabede Mabuza.
The money is to support preparations for Zanu PF’s 22nd National People’s Conference set for Mutare, in Manicaland Province, from October 13 to 18, 2025.
Mabuza personally delivered the donation to Chinamasa on Monday, October 6, at the Zanu-PF Headquarters in Harare.
She was accompanied by her brother and company Operations Executive Officer, David Mabuza Jr.; Communications Officer, Sepadi Thobejang and the Zimbabwe Resident Officer, only identified as Mr. Marimira.
Chinamasa said the contribution demonstrated appreciation for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business” policy, describing it as a show of goodwill from the South African investors.
FS Mining, which operates chrome mines in Zvishavane and a minerals refinery in South Africa, plans to install a chrome washing plant before year-end and later develop a smelting facility in Zimbabwe, according to Chinamasa.
He said the company said the washing plant is expected to arrive soon from China.
“FS Mining is a South African–registered company mining chrome in the Zvishavane area and owns a minerals refinery in South Africa. The company intends to set up a chrome washing plant by the end of the year and a smelting plant in Zimbabwe in the not-too-distant future.
“It is expecting delivery of the new washing plant from the People’s Republic of China soon,” Chinamasa wrote on his X handle.
“The donation to Zanu-PF is an expression of gratitude for the pronounced and declared policy of President E.D. Mnangagwa that Zimbabwe is not only open for business but is also a friend to all and an enemy to none.”
But investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono reacted to the donation, highlighting what he termed the “interconnectedness between Zanu-PF and South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) elites.”
Chin’ono argued that such financial and business relationships could compromise South Africa’s foreign policy stance toward Zimbabwe, saying they reflect a “network of elite interdependence” driven by personal and transactional interests rather than ideology.
He added that until this dynamic is addressed, South Africa’s political response to governance and human rights issues in Zimbabwe would remain constrained by these cross-border ties.
“This is the core of the problem; the relationship between South African political elites and their Zimbabwean counterparts is not ideological, it is transactional and self-preserving.
“This is what some people fail to understand. There is no way a political party in South Africa will make a decision that harms the personal financial or political interests of those who run that party.
“It is as simple as that. And until this network of elite interdependence is broken, both South Africa’s foreign policy on Zimbabwe and its silence on Zanu-PF’s abuses will remain compromised,” Chin’ono stated.
