A $20m wedding shows who’s really running Zimbabwe

A $17.5 million wedding gift from a sanctioned tycoon to his son has laid bare who really holds power in Zimbabwe. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's term has been extended to 2030 after parliament scrapped the presidential vote, a move critics say entrenches a small clique of politically connected businessmen who now bankroll the ruling Zanu-PF party. Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has warned of bloodshed, and analysts flag coup risk. Zimbabwe remains locked out of fresh lending from major creditors. A quarter of its population has already left, many for South Africa, where the fallout from continued instability and stalled reform is felt most directly..By Antony Sguazzin.In late May, Zimbabwe’s one percent gathered at a polo club on the outskirts of Harare to celebrate the marriage of one of their own. The country had never before seen a wedding like this. From the groom’s father, a presidential advisor and US-sanctioned tycoon, the couple received $17.5 million in cash and land. From government ministers, politically connected businessmen and the sons of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Kudakwashe Tagwirei and Poneso Tinomuda Janda were showered with luxury cars, rare cattle and hundreds of thousands of dollars. The president delivered a speech, and the American R&B band Boyz II Men gave a surprise performance at the reception.This parade of wealth and influence, documented on state and social media, was a clear illustration of who now holds power in the southern African country.While Zimbabwe struggled with years of misrule and economic ruin under former leader Robert Mugabe, a Marxist who largely shunned business and abhorred ostentatious displays of wealth, that has changed dramatically under Mnangagwa. During his tenure, a handful of entrepreneurs have become enormously wealthy through government procurement programs, access to some of the country’s most profitable mines and generous state tenders. That’s happened as the prices of gold and platinum, two of Zimbabwe’s key resources, have surged, and the country has become a main lithium supplier to China.After a months-long campaign, some of those entrepreneurs accomplished one of their main political objectives several weeks ago when the government abolished the presidential vote and amended the law to extend 83-year-old Mnangagwa’s term by two years, until 2030. That’s a major change to the system — even under Mugabe, elections were always held on the dates stipulated in the constitution.“It’s the beginning of a one-party state,” warned Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, during a talk last month. “Not just a one-party state, but an authoritarian party state and an oligarchic party state.’’Read More: Zimbabwe Takes Full Control of Controversial State MinerBy bankrolling politicians and securing powerful positions within the governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), the businessmen have also started to alter the party, which has ruled the country since it achieved independence in 1980. Historically led by aging struggle veterans, some now rely on what Chan calls the “new class of oligarchs” for financial support. “The party needs money,” he said in an interview, “and they have bought their way in.’’The major players were in attendance at the wedding. Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a tycoon under US and UK sanctions for alleged corruption, formally joined Zanu-PF’s leadership last year by being appointed to its top decision-making body. According to local media reports, he gifted 300 luxury vehicles to senior party leaders during this process. Wicknell Chivayo, a businessman whose ventures include solar power and logistics, also gave expensive vehicles to opposition lawmakers who agreed to get behind scrapping presidential elections. And Scott Sakupwanya, a metals trader who was featured in an Al Jazeera investigation into gold smuggling, is a member of parliament for Zanu-PF. With these moves, “they are making sure they have access” to the president, said Trevor Ncube, a Zimbabwean owner of independent newspapers that are critical of the government. “Should anything happen, they will be part of the next administration or can influence it.” Tagwirei, Sakupwanya and Chivayo did not answer multiple phone calls or reply to text messages seeking comment. The men have all publicly rejected allegations of corruption, describing them as politically motivated.With the blessing of the senate and 280-member parliament, Mnangagwa signed the amendment to extend his term and empower parliament to select the next president on July 7, telling the state-run press it had been a “collective” decision. Just two years ago, the president forced one of Ncube’s newspapers to publicly apologize for suggesting he might try to remain in power.Wilf Mbanga, the founder of the Zimbabwean, a newspaper distributed in the UK and South Africa, describes the changes as a way for the new business elite to entrench control and circumvent a vote. “They know they can’t appeal to all Zimbabweans to be elected,” he said. “That’s why they have been pushing for the amendments.” In response to queries, Zanu-PF’s information secretary Chris Mutsvangwa said that the term extension will stabilize the business environment and usher in “a period of political and governance certainty.” He also dismissed suggestions that it was motivated by external factors. “The finger pointing at a few business figures is neither here nor there,” he said.Before the amendments were passed, they were met with deep public resistance. Court cases and requests for a referendum were brushed aside, and human rights groups say that protestors were assaulted and prevented from speaking at public hearings. The campaign has also fractured the ruling party. A prominent retired air marshal wrote to parliament in March demanding a referendum on the measures, saying the failure to hold one would be “a betrayal not of us but of every Zimbabwean who hoped for a better country.” Constantino Chiwenga, Mnangagwa’s vice president, criticized Tagwirei for “buying” his way into the party and warned of “bloodshed” if the term extension went through. In an address last year at a graveyard where many of Zimbabwe’s liberation heroes are buried, he referred to the clique of businessmen as “Zvigananda” a word whose origins come from a Shona term for blood-engorged ticks. The vice president accused the men of betraying the country’s revolutionary values.“There is tension in the country,” said Ncube, the newspaper owner. Referring to Chiwenga, he added, he “has got a loyal group of military people, retired commanders, who are saying this is not what we fought for.”In a June report, the International Crisis Group warned that a coup could be one possible outcome: “The risk is that Chiwenga will come to see such a gambit as the only route to reach a position he feels he is owed.” Chiwenga led the 2017 coup.Still, he will struggle to secure power without the party’s financial backers, said Chipo Dendere, assistant professor of Africana at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. “The vice president has openly spoken against corruption” and oligarchs, she said, “but since these types hold the party purse I don’t see how he can have a political career without their support.”The situation echoes the waning years of Mugabe’s rule, when old allies were jettisoned after a group of businessmen won favor with the aging leader and his increasingly influential wife Grace. Mugabe removed Mnangagwa from his post as vice president in November 2017, and a coup followed a week later. At the time, Zimbabwe was deeply in debt to multilateral lenders. Its economy provided little formal employment, and waves of Zimbabweans were emigrating to South Africa and the UK. Upon taking power, the new president promised a revival and return to the global economy. “Mnangagwa spent years presenting himself as a reformer who had broken with the Mugabe era, and was committed to international re-engagement,” said Zaynab Hoosen, a senior Africa analyst at intelligence advisory agency Pangea Risk.But nine years on, that still hasn’t happened. Despite a booming lithium industry, record tobacco production and the surge in gold and platinum prices, Zimbabwe remains in default to international lenders. It’s been in arrears for 26 years, and a quarter of its population has left.For now, the country’s relationships with external creditors remain frozen. The World Bank, African Development Bank, European Investment Bank and Paris Club, which have loaned to Zimbabwe in the past, are precluded from extending more credit until previous debts have been paid. In addition, unlocking access to credit is also contingent on enacting democratic reforms.The recent amendments could make the country even more of an international pariah and deepen its economic crisis, said Hoosen. “Political and governance reforms are an explicit part of Zimbabwe’s dialogue with creditors,” she said..Read more:.US Sanctions Zimbabwe President Mnangagwa over human rights.At home, the brazen intermingling of money and politics is likely to add to ordinary Zimbabweans’ disillusionment with democracy. Since 2000, every election has been marred by allegations of voter intimidation and fraud.“It was never like this in the past,” said Tinei, a construction worker in Harare who asked that his surname not be used. “But maybe times are changing very fast. I guess it pays to be in politics.”.© 2026 Bloomberg L.P..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

A $20m wedding shows who’s really running Zimbabwe

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