The Sakunda Republic: How Mnangagwa, Tagwirei and Chivayo bought a party and rented a country

Opening: A Party for Sale

In Zimbabwe, the line between party, state, and private company has never been clear. But recent revelations confirm what many already suspected: ZANU PF is no longer a political organisation.

It is a subsidiary of Sakunda Holdings, held together by oil revenues, Dubai mansions, and loyalty networks financed with money siphoned from the people.

At the centre of the storm is President Emmerson Mnangagwa, now exposed as trustee of a secret 45 percent ZANU PF shareholding in Sakunda, a stake originally set up under Mugabe but repurposed as a war chest for a new dynasty.

Instead of dividends sustaining the party, billions of dollars have flowed into the hands of one man: Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Mnangagwa’s economic alter ego.

The proceeds have not watered the party base. They have lubricated it — with loyalty purchased through SUVs, cash envelopes, and campaign handouts.

They have funded the rise of Wicknell Chivayo as the nation’s official Father Christmas, Scott Sakupwanya as the golden mascot, and Delish Nguwaya as fixer-in-chief.

The goal? Not Vision 2030. Not rural development. But Dynasty 2050: a seamless handover of Zimbabwe from Mnangagwa to his financiers and eventually to his sons, Sean or Emmerson Jr.

The Politburo as Shareholders’ AGM

What should have been another routine politburo meeting last week erupted into what can only be described as a hostile shareholders’ annual general meeting.

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga marched into the room, not as a deputy but as a whistleblower, armed with a dossier that accused Tagwirei of looting US$3.2 billion. The revelations shocked even hardened politburo veterans.

Chiwenga declared that ZANU PF had never seen a cent of its supposed Sakunda dividends. Instead, the money had been repurposed to build parallel structures of power, bankrolled by Tagwirei and distributed by Chivayo, Sakupwanya, and Nguwaya.

“He said the party had never received a cent,” insiders revealed. “Instead, Tagwirei was using what was essentially ZANU PF’s money to capture its structures, with the complicity of the trustees.”

Trustees, of course, being none other than Mnangagwa himself, his deputy Kembo Mohadi, and party legal secretary Patrick Chinamasa.

Chiwenga reportedly demanded the immediate arrest of the four “benefactors” — Tagwirei, Chivayo, Sakupwanya, and Nguwaya. For a brief moment, it seemed as if the entire party hierarchy had been hijacked and was now being held hostage by its own financiers.

The Billion-Dollar Babysitters

The scandal has revealed more than just missing billions. It has laid bare Mnangagwa’s new form of insurance: an entourage of billionaires and benefactors who function as political babysitters, guarding him against internal coups and external exposure.

The arrangement is simple: whenever Mnangagwa contemplates foreign travel, he considers taking along his babysitters — Tagwirei, Chivayo, Sakupwanya, and Nguwaya. Not as official delegates, not as policy experts, but as a human shield against arrest in his absence.

The logic is blunt: if the President leaves them behind, Chiwenga might pounce. If he carries them along, they remain untouchable. Such is the level of paranoia that Mnangagwa is said to be weighing whether to cancel his trip to the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Never in the history of diplomacy has a head of state hesitated to attend a global summit for fear that his personal benefactors might be arrested if left unsupervised at home.

Chiwenga’s Fury and Mnangagwa’s Fear

Chiwenga’s dossier did not merely accuse Tagwirei of theft. It accused Mnangagwa of complicity. By highlighting Chivayo’s flashy handouts — including ten luxury vehicles and US$1 million in cash to provincial chairmen — Chiwenga was effectively pointing at the President and saying: “Here is your legacy.”

Mnangagwa’s discomfort was visible. His loyalists scrambled. Presidential spokesman George Charamba contradicted Chivayo by claiming the cars were party property, not personal gifts. But the contradiction only reinforced Chiwenga’s argument: the lines between party property, personal property, and looted property have dissolved.

When State Security Minister Lovemore Matuke accused Chiwenga of plotting to seize power, the general snapped back: “Ask Mnangagwa who got him out of the country in 2017 when Mugabe had fired him.” It was a sharp reminder that loyalty, not legality, has always determined succession in ZANU PF.

Committees as Political Sedatives

Mnangagwa’s response was vintage crisis management: form a committee. Obert Mpofu, Oppah Muchinguri, and Patrick Chinamasa were tasked to investigate.

The irony is sharp. Mpofu, himself no stranger to allegations of enrichment; Muchinguri, long part of the patronage machine; and Chinamasa, one of the very trustees accused in the dossier.

This is not oversight. It is a self-audit by the accused, a strategy perfected by Mugabe and now institutionalised under Mnangagwa.

The Rise of the Dynasty Project

The Sakunda stake is not just about today’s looting. It is about tomorrow’s succession.

Mnangagwa’s loyalists are openly floating the idea of postponing elections beyond 2028. The official line is continuity. The real motive is protection. Many fear that a Chiwenga presidency would bring investigations, arrests, and exposure.

The solution? A dynasty project

Phase 1 (2023–2030): Mnangagwa consolidates power with Sakunda billions.
Phase 2 (2030–2040): Tagwirei steps in as economic president, deputised by Chivayo as political frontman.
Phase 3 (2040–2050): Handover to Sean Mnangagwa or Emmerson Jr., ensuring the family brand remains intact.

This is not a political strategy. It is a family trust deed masquerading as a national vision.

Liberation Struggle vs. Cartel Struggle

The contrast with the liberation struggle could not be starker. Where the bush fighters sought sovereignty, today’s cartel financiers seek dependency — on foreign banks, on Dubai mansions, on oil rents.

Where the liberation war was fought with guns and ideology, today’s power struggle is fought with SUVs and WhatsApp transfers.

What Chiwenga laid bare was not just a financial scandal. It was the complete transformation of ZANU PF from liberation movement into cartel republic.

The Human Face of Party Capture

Behind the billions lies a broken nation.

Rural communities still wait for boreholes while $1.2 billion was siphoned in advance for dry holes and ribbon-cutting.

Cancer patients still die without treatment while half a billion vanished into phantom tenders for machines that never arrived.

Villagers were promised goats under the $40 million Presidential Goat Scheme; not a single goat appeared.

Yet in Harare, party loyalists drive luxury cars donated by benefactors, their loyalty purchased with looted dividends.

The people thirst while the elite feast.

Mnangagwa’s New York Dilemma

The absurdity of the crisis crystallises in one question: will Mnangagwa attend the UN General Assembly?

Ordinary leaders weigh diplomatic priorities, foreign policy, or global alliances. Mnangagwa must weigh whether his babysitters will remain safe if he leaves them behind.

His advisors warn him: if you fly to New York, Chiwenga might seize the moment. If you stay, you project weakness internationally.

The President’s calendar is no longer determined by foreign policy, but by fear of arrest by his own deputy.

What Next?

As ZANU PF prepares for its annual conference in Mutare, the battle lines are clear.

Chiwenga’s camp insists on discipline, arrests, and a return to order.

Mnangagwa’s camp insists on continuity, dynasty, and insulation from accountability.

The party is no longer a political organisation but a battlefield between a general with a dossier and a president with babysitters.

Conclusion: A Nation Held Hostage

Zimbabwe is not governed by policy. It is governed by cartel mathematics. Sakunda dividends fund loyalty; loyalty funds dynasty; dynasty funds paranoia.

The liberation war was fought for independence. Today, independence is mortgaged to Dubai bankers and oil cartels.

Mnangagwa may yet skip New York. But he cannot skip history. And history will not remember him as the liberator who saved Zimbabwe from Mugabe.

It will remember him as the trustee who rented ZANU PF to Sakunda, sold the party to billionaires, and tried to turn a nation into a family dynasty.