As I reported yesterday, the factional battle within ZANUPF pitting President Emmerson Mnangagwa against his deputy, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, a retired general, is intensifying. Today the war of carefully chosen words continued.
President Mnangagwa thanked those who attended the Presidential Fundraising Dinner, held to raise money for the party's 23rd National People's Conference, which is taking place this week in Chinhoyi. As I said yesterday, the Vice President and his faction stayed away.
Senior figures aligned to him, among them retired General Anselem Sanyatwe, were absent.
The President did not hide his displeasure. After thanking those who came, he openly registered his disappointment, pointing out that some members of the Politburo had not attended.
He then switched to Shona and asked the audience, rhetorically, whether they had heard what he had just said. It was a message aimed squarely at bus deputy seated next to him.
Where this battle ends will shape the future of ZANUPF, but not necessarily the future of Zimbabwe. I say this because ZANUPF remains ZANUPF regardless of who leads it. It is a system of governance, not a single man.
We saw this when the late former President Robert Mugabe was removed and President Mnangagwa took over.
The face at the top changed, but the system did not. Whoever wins this fight inherits the same machinery, and ordinary Zimbabweans should not expect their lives to change simply because one faction triumphs over another.