President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s farm has become a hive of activity as Zanu PF groups stampede to show their support for his ED2030 campaign, which is now increasingly seen as the veteran politician’s push to sideline Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga from succeeding him.
Mnangagwa is supposed to retire when his second and last term ends in 2028, but his loyalists are pushing a campaign where they say he will still be in power in 2030.
The 81-year-old ruler has been forced on two occasions this year to publicly declare that he would not tamper with the constitutional provisions that say an individual can only serve two five-year terms as president.
Zanu PF insiders say the ED2030 campaign is meant to demobilise Chiwenga’s faction and give Mnangagwa room to choose a successor of his choice.
The Zanu PF officials pointed to the number of delegations visiting Mnangagwa’s Precabe Farm of late where a register is allegedly being kept to show who is on the president’s side.
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This publication gathered that Douglas Kwanda, who runs DCK bakeries, has been responsible for taking down the names of party officials who trek to the farm to offer solidarity to the 2030 plan.
“Party members who come to show solidarity are not only from Midlands, but across the country and Kwande keeps the register of those who visit,” a senior Zanu PF official in the Midlands said.
The activities at Mnangagwa’s farm are reminiscent of his predecessor Robert Mugabe’s last days in power where his Mazowe farm became a favourite venue for gatherings by the G40 faction that was linked to the then first lady Grace.
Sources also claimed that Zanu PF Midlands deputy provincial chairperson Lewis Matutu has becomethe defacto chairman to push the 2030 agenda after Edson Chakanyuka Chiherenge was accused of not being forceful enough.
Midlands, Mnangagwa’s backyard, has been in the forefront, pushing for an extension of the president's term of office with provincial minister Owen Ncube being the most vocal.
"Matutu is now the defacto chairman after Chiherenge was pushed aside because he is accused of not being aggressive with the 2030 project,” a party official said.
Midlands provincial structures brag that the 2030 project is now a reality and cannot be reversed.
Midlands youths were the first to call on Mnangagwa to extend his rule soon after the Zanu PF leader told a gathering in Mutare that he will rest when his term of office expires.
However, this has not stopped spirited campaigns for the 2030 agenda by his loyalists.
Matutu yesterday denied claims that he had been tasked to push the 2030 agenda in the Midlands.
"That is not true at all," he told The Standard when contacted for comment.
"In any case, I have a good working relationship with the chairperson (Chakanyuka) whom I have worked with so well over the years from the days of the youth league.
"And also to note, these positions are not inherited, but these are deployments, and I was deployed to deputise Chakanyuka.
"Also, decisions from the province and the party are collective; they are made after thorough and rigorous consultations and the party agenda for now is Vision 2030 and this is what I am pushing for, not as an individual because it's a collective decision.
"I have been always a hard worker, and I have always taken all the tasks given to me with the seriousness that they deserve and any wrongful interpretation of how I then conduct my duties can then be mischievous."
Chiherenge and Kwande were not available for comment.
Chiherenge has previously served as the acting provincial chairperson, stepping into the role after Larry Mavima’s resignation.
Mavima, who is now a commissioner in the Public Service Commission, had previously held the position that Chiherenge now occupies.
Chiwenga, who is considered as Mnangagwa’s natural successor in some circles, has never been seen chanting the ED2030 slogan in public amid claims that his faction is resisting the agenda.
The slogan is said to have divided Zanu PF supporters as some are resisting orders to chant it, an allegation that was dismissed by the party’s spokesperson Farai Marapira.
“We never had divisions as Zanu PF, we have been united,” Marapira told The Standard.
“As a party we have conversations, ideas and growth. The ideas are only grown by conversations.”
Chiwenga was at the forefront of the 2017 coup that toppled Mugabe and replaced him with Mnangagwa.
The coup happened two weeks after Mnangagwa escaped to South Africa after he was fired for allegedly plotting against his boss.
