Goodbye Chief Fortune Charumbira: President Mnangagwa authorises his axing as succession battles grip Zanu PF

Chief Fortune Charumbira’s long-standing place at the centre of Zimbabwe’s traditional leadership and national politics is under its greatest pressure in years after President Emmerson Mnangagwa approved his recall from the Senate alongside two other Masvingo chiefs.

The decision follows a vote by the Masvingo Provincial Assembly of Chiefs on 14 September. Forty-two of the 45 chiefs who attended backed a motion to recall Charumbira, Chief Nhema and Chief Chitanga. The three are now facing the loss of their seats in the upper house as well as their positions in the National Council of Chiefs.

Local Government and Public Works permanent secretary Tafadzwa Muguti announced the presidential approval in Harare on 13 October. He said Senate President Mable Chinomona had been served with the recall papers, as had the president of the National Council of Chiefs, and that the three chiefs had been notified.

“His Excellency, through his wisdom and of course the minister, has written after consultation. On the 14th of September the Provincial Assembly of Chiefs in Masvingo met and deliberated and recalled three chiefs from the Senate, and as of this morning the President of the Senate has been served with papers by the Honourable Minister, and the President of the National Chiefs Council has also been served with the papers, and the chiefs themselves have been notified. So it is with regret that Mambo Charumbira, Mambo Nhema and Mambo Chitanga have all been recalled from the Senate,” Muguti said.

The other chiefs are Nhema, whose name is Rangarirai Bwawanda, of Zaka, and Chitanga, born Feleni Chauke, of Mwenezi. The vote against the three was moved by Chief Nemanwa, whose name is Fungai Manjiva. Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Ezra Chadzamira and ZANU PF provincial chairman Rabson Mavenyengwa attended the September meeting.

The stated complaint from the assembly was that the three had undermined presidential authority. Muguti did not give details of the conduct cited. The sequence is clear: the provincial chiefs voted first, and Mnangagwa later approved the recall and authorised the papers to be served. It was not a decision announced as a personal dismissal by the President.

The recall puts an abrupt end to Charumbira’s route into the Senate through the traditional leadership system. He is the deputy president of the National Council of Chiefs, having previously led the body. Under Zimbabwe’s constitutional arrangements, 16 chiefs are elected to the Senate, with two further seats held by the council’s president and deputy president. The 2026 constitutional changes expanded the Senate to 90 members.

The chamber’s role has also changed. The Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Act, signed into law on 7 July, extended presidential and parliamentary terms from five years to seven. It also replaced the direct popular election of the President with an election by a joint sitting of the National Assembly and Senate. The changes affect the national timetable and the process for choosing the country’s leader, making the Senate a more prominent arena in the succession contest.

ZANU PF is now working to align its own constitution with the national amendments. The party’s legal affairs secretary, Ziyambi Ziyambi, said in September that its legal committee had been instructed to prepare changes for consideration at the party’s annual conference. Those rules cover how the party selects its presidential candidate and organises its leadership structures.

The debate has exposed divisions at the top of the party. A ZANU PF Politburo meeting scheduled for 9 October was cancelled shortly before it was due to begin. Party spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa explained: “There was a clash or an overflow of programmes, and the meeting was postponed.” The meeting had been expected to consider the party’s constitutional alignment ahead of its conference in Chinhoyi.

The dispute is closely watched because Mnangagwa’s current term, which was due to end in 2028 under the previous arrangements, has been extended to 2030. Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga is widely regarded within the party as a potential successor, while the proposed internal rule changes have become a point of contention among senior figures. The chiefs’ recall has taken place against that backdrop, although the assembly has not publicly linked its stated complaint to a particular position on the constitutional changes.

The political importance of the chiefs’ seats is underscored by their place in the Senate. In September, after the vote, Chief Chitanga confirmed the result: “Yes, we have been booted out. Forty-two out of forty-five chiefs voted in favour of the motion.” The three had represented Masvingo in the chamber. With the President’s approval now in place and notices delivered, their departure marks a serious setback for Charumbira’s influence in the national institutions where he has held senior positions.

His history in public life includes repeated disputes over the political neutrality required of traditional leaders. In the run-up to the 2018 elections, Charumbira publicly said chiefs and their subjects would support ZANU PF. The High Court ruled that the remarks breached the constitutional requirement for chiefs to remain politically impartial and ordered that he withdraw them. He was again criticised after publicly pledging the chiefs’ support for the ruling party at its 2021 annual conference.

Those episodes gave Charumbira a prominent role in debates about the relationship between traditional authority and party politics. His position in the Senate and at the National Council of Chiefs gave him a national platform; the Masvingo assembly’s vote has now placed both parts of that influence in jeopardy.

He has also faced a separate dispute in Bondolfi, Masvingo, where villagers accused him of taking over a gold claim after a meeting with artisanal miners. The meeting was held on 16 July, when he encouraged miners to formalise their operations, according to the villagers’ account. They alleged that about a week later a claim was registered over the gold-rush area and that evictions began. Charumbira had not publicly responded to those accusations when they were reported.

The latest move began with a decisive vote among chiefs in his own province and has since been endorsed by the President. Charumbira, Nhema and Chitanga have all been notified, and the Senate has received the recall papers. The outcome will reshape the traditional leadership representation in Parliament while removing a veteran figure from the centre of Zimbabwe’s political debate at a time when ZANU PF is wrestling with who will lead it next.