By Desire Tshuma
HARARE — President Emmerson Mnangagwa has approved the recall of Chief Fortune Charumbira from the Senate, ending the parliamentary career of one of Zimbabwe’s most powerful traditional leaders.
The approval was announced in Harare on October 13 2026 by Local Government Permanent Secretary Tafadzwa Muguti. Charumbira, who is Deputy President of the National Council of Chiefs, was recalled alongside Chief Nhema of Zaka and Chief Chitanga of Mwenezi.
The recall followed a vote by the Masvingo Provincial Chiefs Assembly on 14 September at Clever’s Hotel on the shores of Lake Mutirikwi. Forty-two of 45 chiefs voted in favour of the motion, while three voted against. The motion was moved by Chief Nemanwa, Fungai Manjiva, who was appointed chief only last month.
Assembly chairperson Chief Serima, Vengesai Rushwaya, said the three were recommended for recall for undermining Presidential authority. He accused them of opposing Mnangagwa when he restored chieftainships banished during the colonial period and of refusing to attend installation ceremonies for the newly resuscitated chieftainships.
Chief Chitanga confirmed the result, saying: “Yes, we have been booted out. Forty-two out of forty-five chiefs voted in favour of the motion.”
Muguti said the President of the Senate, the President of the National Council of Chiefs and the chiefs themselves had been served with the recall papers. He said the formal removal process would now proceed through the relevant legal channels, after which elections would be held to select replacements.
The meeting that voted for the recall was attended by Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Ezra Chadzamira, and ZANU PF provincial chairman, Rabson Mavenyengwa.
Charumbira, a former president of the Council, has for years been one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent traditional leaders. He previously served as President of the Pan-African Parliament. He has not publicly responded in detail to the recall allegations.
The vote took place against a wider political battle over Mnangagwa’s constitutional changes and loyalty within ZANU PF. Under Constitutional Amendment No. 3, Mnangagwa’s term was extended to 2030 and direct election of the president was scrapped in favour of a joint vote by MPs and senators, increasing the importance of the Senate and the chiefs’ 18 seats in the 90-member chamber.
What is not established is whether succession politics or any other specific controversy directly caused the recall. The official ground given was undermining presidential authority. No detailed particulars were published, and no evidence has linked the recall to any single other allegation.
That distinction matters because Charumbira’s career has been dogged by other controversies, which have fuelled speculation about his downfall but have not been proven as the cause.
His most enduring controversy came in 2021, when he declared at the ZANU PF annual conference in Bindura that chiefs were the owners of the ruling party. He said he was speaking on behalf of chiefs and headmen and insisted: “We come as owners of the party.”
Critics said the remarks violated Section 281(2) of the Constitution, which requires traditional leaders to remain politically impartial and not participate in partisan politics. The dispute revived an earlier legal battle over his endorsement of ZANU PF and its presidential candidate ahead of the 2018 elections.
On 9 May 2018, the High Court, in a case brought by the Election Resource Centre, declared his partisan remarks unconstitutional and ordered him to retract them in national newspapers and on ZBC. The court also directed the Minister of Local Government to initiate disciplinary proceedings. Charumbira sought to have the judgment rescinded, but the High Court dismissed his application on 19 June 2019.
Despite that judgment, he continued to publicly associate with ZANU PF and rose to become President of the Pan-African Parliament in June 2022, elected unopposed with 161 votes.
A separate, longstanding dispute concerns his right to the chieftainship itself. In 2016, Fainios Mihwa Mapingure of the Mapingure house challenged his appointment, arguing it departed from Karanga custom requiring rotation among eligible houses. Mapingure alleged the position had passed from Charumbira’s grandfather, Mhazha, to his father, Zephania, and then to Fortune without rotation. The matter reached the High Court in case HC 3009/18. Charumbira has maintained his legitimacy and denied the allegations.
Most recently, allegations emerged from the gold rush in Bondolfi, Masvingo. Reports published by ZimLive said Charumbira met artisanal miners on 16 July 2026 and encouraged them to formalise their operations. About a week later, he allegedly registered a claim covering the gold-rush area and began evicting villagers. Some miners said they felt betrayed, believing information from the meeting had been used to secure control of the resource.
A counter-account from traditional leaders and community representatives in Masvingo West Ward 11 said the arrangements followed consultations involving the chief, headmen and village heads after tensions and violence, and that the community was organised into mining groups with more than 200 people participating through a rotational system. Charumbira had not publicly responded to the allegations at the time of publication.
No established evidence links the Bondolfi dispute to the recall decision.
The late Eddison Zvobgo, the veteran lawyer and ZANU PF stalwart from Masvingo, once likened the ruling party to a cauldron, isinjonjo in Shona, warning that those inside it had to remain vigilant. He cautioned: “You don’t close both eyes when you go to sleep. And you sleep with your clothes and shoes on.”
Charumbira once declared that ZANU PF belonged to chiefs. Today, the same system that gave him a Senate seat has voted him out.
