Fear is one thing nearly impossible to hide no matter how hard one tries.
Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi’s recent remarks during a ZANU-PF Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) meeting in Chegutu are not the show of strength he likely intended, but rather a glaring admission of panic within President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s camp.
When a government minister is forced to issue thinly veiled threats to fellow ruling party MPs — warning them against siding with so-called “hallucinating factions” and “outside forces” — it is a clear sign that the ruling clique is shaken.
The bluster masks growing internal anxiety that some ZANU-PF legislators may be considering siding with efforts to either block Mnangagwa’s unconstitutional bid to extend his term or even support an impeachment motion.
Ziyambi’s attempt to downplay the possibility of impeachment, dismissing it as a fantasy or failed protest, is itself revealing.
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If it truly were nothing but noise from expelled members and bitter losers, then why speak about it at all?
Why dedicate time and energy to addressing it publicly — let alone in the shrill, panicked tone that he adopted?
The fact that the Justice Minister chose a provincial meeting to warn party MPs not only betrays a realization that this is no trivial matter, but also reveals a deep fear that dissent is festering within their own parliamentary caucus.
The very essence of Ziyambi’s message — that MPs must not defy the party line — exposes a central fear: that enough ZANU-PF legislators may be willing to do just that.
Most telling of all is Ziyambi’s desperate insistence that there would be no secret ballot in Parliament.
Why stress that detail unless there is a real concern that if allowed to vote in secret, many MPs might side with anti-Mnangagwa forces?
In a normal democracy, MPs are entrusted to vote with conscience and principle, especially on matters as grave as amending the Constitution or impeaching a sitting head of state.
But here we have a senior cabinet minister openly discouraging parliamentary independence and instead demanding absolute party loyalty under threat of punishment.
If Mnangagwa’s support within ZANU-PF were truly solid and unshakable, there would be no need for such coercion.
You don’t threaten those who are firmly behind you — you only do so when you fear their loyalty is slipping.
Ziyambi also spoke of the party’s whip system, warning that those who go against the “party line” would face immediate recall.
But one must ask: is that even practically enforceable?
In a real-world parliamentary setting, how does the party leadership know how each MP will vote before the voting?
The truth is, unless an MP publicly announces their stance, the party would only learn about individual votes after the fact.
So, if a crucial vote on constitutional amendments or an impeachment motion were to take place, any disciplinary actions or recalls would inevitably be reactive — and therefore too late.
The damage would already be done.
If Mnangagwa is blocked from extending his stay or, worse still, is impeached, what good would it do to punish the MPs afterwards?
The horse would already have bolted, and the political cost would be irreversible.
This makes Ziyambi’s threats seem more like a desperate deterrent than a credible enforcement mechanism.
He is not so much warning as begging: hoping that fear will keep MPs in line before it’s too late.
But fear is a poor substitute for genuine loyalty — and ZANU-PF has a long history of shifting allegiances that render party declarations meaningless.
One only needs to recall 2017, when all ten ZANU-PF provinces supposedly endorsed then-president Robert Mugabe as the party’s “sole candidate” for the 2018 elections.
Just days later, the very same party swiftly moved to impeach Mugabe and install Emmerson Mnangagwa as president — the same Mnangagwa whom all ten provinces had unanimously voted to expel from the party only days before.
That complete about-face happened virtually overnight.
It was not a show of principled deliberation but an example of how party decisions can be overturned when power dynamics shift.
So much for the sanctity of the party position and whip system.
This should be a sobering reminder to Mnangagwa and his loyalists.
ZANU-PF is not a monolith. Its internal cohesion is held together by expedience, not ideology or loyalty.
Many of the MPs and provincial leaders now saluting Mnangagwa could, in a heartbeat, switch sides if they sense a shift in power or military backing — just as they did in 2017.
What Ziyambi fails to understand, or pretends not to, is that ZANU-PF MPs are not automatons.
Their political survival instinct often overrides the party script.
If there’s growing momentum against Mnangagwa, and if Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is quietly gaining support within both the party and the military, then loyalty will shift accordingly.
It always does.
Ziyambi’s statement also underscores a fundamental misunderstanding of democracy within ZANU-PF’s top ranks.
By asserting that MPs are bound by the party line — and must never vote independently — he reveals an authoritarian worldview that disregards the role of Parliament as a representative institution.
MPs are elected primarily by their constituencies, not just the party.
Their first duty is to the people who voted for them, not the Central Committee or the Presidium.
If those MPs were to truly engage their constituents — and not just party apparatchiks — they would discover that most Zimbabweans are desperate for change.
They are sick and tired of the grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and broken promises that have defined the Mnangagwa era.
They want a future — not a recycled past.
That’s what Ziyambi and his cohort fear most.
That some within their own ranks are finally listening to the people.
That the illusion of unity within ZANU-PF is crumbling.
That impeachment talk is no longer just coffee-shop chatter, but a very real possibility fueled by growing economic discontent and political exhaustion.
That even in a Parliament dominated by ZANU-PF, the winds of change may be picking up speed.
So yes, Ziyambi’s speech was not an expression of confidence.
It was a telltale sign of desperation.
You don’t issue threats when you’re winning. You issue threats when you know you’re losing grip.
The louder the warnings, the deeper the fear.
And that fear, whether they admit it or not, is now coursing through the very core of the Mnangagwa faction.
TENDAI RUBEN MBOFANA - THE UN-OPPRESSED MIND! 