Tinotenda Hove – Zanu PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Patrick Chinamasa has waded into the swirling controversy over the co-option of businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei into the party’s Central Committee, saying the matter has been “irreversibly settled” and should not be weaponised for factional purposes.

In a strongly worded statement issued over the weekend, Chinamasa expressed dismay over the public debate and social media uproar that followed Tagwirei’s entry into the Central Committee, amid speculation of deepening tensions between the fuel mogul and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.

“The Zanu PF Department of Legal Affairs is relieved and takes note that the furore, confusion, wrangle, much ado about nothing, social media hype, misinformation and disinformation that surrounded Harare Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC)’s co-option of Cde Kudakwashe Tagwirei into the Zanu PF Central Committee is now over and irreversibly settled,” Chinamasa said.

He outlined that the process was procedural and above board from the beginning.

“Our Harare PCC convened on Monday, 31 March 2025, and voted to recommend the co-option of Cde Tagwirei into the Central Committee. The Province addressed the letter of recommendation to the Zanu PF Secretary General, Cde Dr. Obert Moses Mpofu. The letter was copied to the Departments of the Commissariat and Legal Affairs, amongst others,” he explained.

Chinamasa noted that the Politburo approved the recommendation during its 384th Ordinary Session on 2 July 2025, with no objections raised—even when Vice President Chiwenga chaired the follow-up 385th Politburo Session on 30 July.

“Confirmed without amendment on page 22 of the Politburo Minutes was Item 7.1.7… ‘Cde Kudakwashe Tagwirei was co-opted by Harare Province and is now a Central Committee Member,’” Chinamasa pointed out, adding that even guidelines signed by himself on 30 June 2025 were followed.

In what appeared to be a veiled rebuke to party insiders stoking factional narratives, Chinamasa said the backlash took him by surprise.

“The controversy surrounding Cde Tagwirei’s co-option into the Central Committee surprises me and took me completely off guard. Given Cde Tagwirei’s commitment to Zanu PF and his track record in the service of the Party, the somewhat negative publicity and narrative surrounding his co-option into the Central Committee is undeserved,” he said.

Drawing from nearly four decades of experience, Chinamasa insisted that such co-options have historically not attracted debate.

“I have been a member of the Zanu PF Central Committee continuously and without break since December 1987, and a member of the Zanu PF Politburo since the year 2000 to date, and I can state unequivocally that… we have never had to debate, let alone discuss, PCC recommendations of co-options into the Central Committee.”

According to Chinamasa, Tagwirei’s case is the first to spark such uproar—something he attributes to behind-the-scenes rivalries.

“The only explanation why the Tagwirei co-option has attracted such controversy may be because there are people out there who, for reasons best known to themselves, have an axe to grind.”

He added that four other co-options were also approved at the same Politburo meeting with no noise: Cdes Polite Kambamura, Christine Gwati, Joseph Serima (Mashonaland West), and Collen Ndebele (Matabeleland North).

“This means that at the next Zanu PF Central Committee meeting, the National Political Commissar will table for noting and adoption five co-options into the Central Committee,” he said.

Chinamasa ended his statement with a pointed Shona proverb: “Those with eyes, let them ‘eye’, and those with ears, let them ‘ear’. Nokuti hatigoni kurega kutaura izvo takaona neizvo takanzwa.”

The message is clear: Tagwirei’s place in Zanu PF is secure—for now.