By : Chinasaokwu Helen Okoro
Power, Corruption, and Succession: How Zimbabwe’s Lifestyle Audits Turns to Political Wars
Zimbabwe’s long-standing battle against corruption has taken a dangerous political twist as calls for lifestyle audits and asset declarations among state officials are increasingly being used as tools for factional warfare within the ruling ZANU-PF party.
The latest flashpoint came after Vice President Constantino Chiwenga released a dossier naming several powerful businessmen and politicians allegedly involved in deep-seated corruption. Among those listed were well-known figures such as Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Wicknell Chivayo, Delish Nguwaya, Scott Sakupwanya, and Paul Tungwarara — all said to be close allies of President Emmerson Mnangagwa
Chiwenga’s report accuses the so-called “cartels” of looting billions through fraudulent government tenders, including contracts to import narcotics and psychotropic drugs. He claims their illicit gains have fueled lavish lifestyles and financed activities that undermine the Zimbabwean people through what he describes as “state capture.”
However, analysts say the vice president’s anti-corruption crusade is far from pure. “Chiwenga’s corruption dossier is a targeted document which references just a few individuals that are not politically on his side in ZANU-PF’s factional wars,” says Tawanda Majoni, a respected anti-corruption analyst and programme manager at the Information Development Trust. “There are vested political interests in this so-called exposure — it’s about power, not integrity.”
In a swift counterattack, former legislator and Mnangagwa ally Temba Mliswa accused Chiwenga of hypocrisy and corruption. “No one is clean, including Chiwenga,” Mliswa told The Africa Report. “People use the mantra of fighting corruption to get into power, but once powerful, they use graft to entrench it.”
Mliswa, who serves as vice chairperson of the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) for the SADC region, argues that corrupt cartels effectively control state institutions, making genuine accountability almost impossible. “How does Chiwenga separate himself from a system he is part of?” he asks, pointing to the vice president’s own alleged links with powerful business interests.
According to Mliswa, Chiwenga personally benefited from these cartels. He claims that businessman Wicknell Chivayo financed the vice president’s lavish 2023 wedding to Miniyothabo Baloyi, reportedly gifting six Rolls Royce vehicles, $500,000 in cash, and millions of rand for luxury shopping and honeymoon expenses.
“You cannot call others corrupt when your own hands are not clean,” he says.
Chiwenga’s dossier, meanwhile, singles out Tagwirei as “the most corrupt individual,” alleging that ZANU-PF secretly held a 45% stake in his company, Sakunda Holdings. He accuses Tagwirei of diverting $3.2 billion meant as dividends for the party into personal accounts. Tagwirei, widely seen as Mnangagwa’s preferred successor, has donated over $21 million worth of luxury vehicles to senior party officials — allegedly to secure political loyalty.
For analysts like Majoni, the situation underscores a troubling pattern in Zimbabwean politics. “Politicians in this country never truly fight corruption. They weaponise it to eliminate rivals and accumulate power,” he says. “When former President Robert Mugabe was ousted in 2017, the justification was to remove corrupt leaders — yet those who replaced them were part of the same system.”
Both factions — Chiwenga’s and Mnangagwa’s — appear to be using corruption claims as leverage in the ruling party’s succession battle. “Chiwenga wants to appear as a reformer, while Mnangagwa’s allies want to portray him as corrupt. It’s all political theatre,” Majoni adds.
Experts and reform advocates insist that genuine progress requires more than accusations. Mliswa says the absence of a legal framework for asset declaration and whistleblower protection perpetuates impunity. “There’s fear among those in power to introduce these laws because many have amassed wealth in crooked ways,” he notes.
For Zimbabwe, the solution lies in transparency, not political theatrics. “Asset declarations and lifestyle audits should be annual and public,” says Mliswa. “If leaders have nothing to hide, they should be the first to open their books.”
Until that happens, Zimbabwe’s so-called war on corruption will remain what many see it as today — a weapon in the relentless fight for power.
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