George Charamba in hot soup as President Mnangagwa and General Chiwenga trade salvos at ZANU-PF conference

HARARE — Presidential spokesman George Charamba has been drawn into a public row over political messaging after President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President General (Retired) Constantino Chiwenga used the same Shona expression in sharply different addresses at ZANU-PF’s 23rd Annual National People’s Conference in Chinhoyi.

The phrase, mazvake mazvake, was used by both leaders as they spoke about personal ambition and the interests of the ruling party. Chiwenga said it while introducing Mnangagwa to delegates on Friday, October 16. Mnangagwa used it later in his own address. The speeches came as ZANU-PF faced an intensifying debate over the President’s tenure and the party’s succession plans.

The overlap became the focus of criticism from former Mashonaland West provincial chairman and ex-Norton independent MP Temba Mliswa, who questioned whether Charamba had a hand in preparing both addresses. He described the messages as contradictory and called the situation an “internal messaging disaster”.

Chiwenga told delegates: “Mazvake mazvake haana kwaanotisvitsa” — the pursuit of personal interests will not take the party anywhere. He urged ZANU-PF to examine whether it was repeating the mistakes that led to the creation of the Second Republic after Robert Mugabe’s removal from office in 2017.

The Vice-President called for what he described as a “brutal and honest self-appraisal”. He asked whether party resolutions genuinely reflected the views of ordinary people and said the value of those decisions depended on whether they improved people’s lives.

Chiwenga also spoke about how change should take place inside the party. “Change must be driven by the people, not imposed from above,” he said, adding that it must be orderly, channelled through party structures and guided by the constitution.

He warned against individual ambition and said leaders were temporary custodians of the party. His speech touched on service, accountability, political discipline and the need for ZANU-PF to listen to criticism.

Mnangagwa later used the same expression, saying: “MuZANU-PF hakuna mazvake mazvake.” He told delegates there was no room in the party for personal agendas. The repetition drew attention because the two speeches had placed different emphasis on party conduct and leadership.

The President’s address focused on his administration’s record, including economic growth, inflation, food security, schools, hospitals and roads. He said gross domestic product had grown and that inflation had fallen. He also urged party members to remain focused on development and the government’s Vision 2030 programme.

Mliswa said the contrast between the addresses was damaging. He described Chiwenga’s remarks as “corrosive and discordant” with Mnangagwa’s speech, which he praised for its focus on production, development and economic performance.

The former MP directed his criticism at the Presidential communications operation. He said that if Charamba had prepared both speeches, the spokesman had “ceased to be an asset and has become a constant and existential danger to the coherence of the State”. Mliswa also said that if Charamba had not written them, the team around Chiwenga should be held responsible for allowing what he called a “shocking and ill-timed diatribe” at a conference meant to promote unity.

Mliswa’s remarks put Charamba at the centre of a dispute over who shapes the messages delivered by Zimbabwe’s senior leaders. Charamba is Mnangagwa’s spokesman and holds the post of Deputy Chief Secretary for Presidential Communications in the Office of the President and Cabinet. His long service in the presidency has made him one of the country’s most recognisable government communicators.

The conference took place against the backdrop of a major shift in the succession debate. In July 2026, Mnangagwa signed legislation extending his presidential term from 2028 to 2030. At the Chinhoyi gathering, ZANU-PF delegates resolved to move the party’s next elective congress from 2027 to 2029 and to keep Mnangagwa as party leader until 2030.

The decisions gave added significance to Chiwenga’s call for change to be driven through party structures and to his questions about whether resolutions came from the people. He did not name Mnangagwa in the remarks, but he spoke at a time when the President’s continued leadership had become a central issue for the party.

Chiwenga also invoked the promise of the Second Republic, the political order established after Mugabe left office. He asked whether the changes promised at that time had been delivered and whether the party was returning to the practices it said it had moved beyond.

The Vice-President said ZANU-PF belonged to the people rather than individuals and that party leaders should accept criticism and examine their decisions. He also called on leaders to ensure that policy decisions produced practical benefits, rather than ending as declarations at conferences.

Mnangagwa, in turn, described progress under his government and asked party members to carry conference resolutions into action. The President’s speech presented economic development as the priority, while Chiwenga’s address placed more attention on accountability, public demands and the party’s political direction.

The two interventions came just days before delegates adopted the resolution to delay the elective congress. The revised timetable gives Mnangagwa’s party leadership a defined horizon through 2030 and postpones the internal contest that would otherwise have taken place in 2027.

Charamba has worked at the centre of government communication through several administrations. He joined the public service in 1984 as a press officer in the information ministry and was seconded to the office of Zimbabwe’s first President, Canaan Banana. After the 1987 Unity Accord reshaped the country’s executive structure, Charamba joined Mugabe’s presidential information unit in 1988.

He later became Mugabe’s press secretary and, from 2000, Permanent Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Services. He retained a senior position after Mnangagwa took office in 2017 and now serves in the Presidential Communications department as well as acting as presidential spokesman.

His career has included both access-building and confrontation with the media. He has at times facilitated contact between journalists and the Presidency, while also becoming known for combative exchanges with reporters and critics. The latest dispute has revived that debate about the role of a government communicator when political leaders deliver messages that appear to pull in different directions.

Charamba has faced public criticism over his relationship with senior political figures before. In July 2017, at a ZANU-PF youth rally in Chinhoyi, then First Lady Grace Mugabe publicly rebuked him over the coverage of party figures by state-owned newspapers. She told him he was a subordinate to ministers and had no right to fight with them. The incident took place during the succession struggle that preceded Mugabe’s departure from office.

Mliswa and Charamba have also exchanged sharp criticism over political loyalty and public communication. Mliswa has called for the spokesman to be removed from office in the past, while Charamba has dismissed Mliswa’s political interventions. Their latest clash therefore comes on top of a long-running personal and political dispute.

The Chinhoyi conference ended with party leaders urging unity and the implementation of adopted resolutions. But the speeches that preceded those decisions left a separate issue in public view: the contrast between Chiwenga’s insistence on self-appraisal and leadership through party structures, and Mnangagwa’s call for collective discipline and continued development.

For Charamba, the immediate challenge is that both statements used the same phrase while prompting sharply different reactions. Mliswa has demanded accountability for what he sees as a failure to coordinate the Presidency’s messaging. The dispute has placed the veteran spokesman under renewed scrutiny as ZANU-PF moves into a new phase of the succession debate.