A video showing businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei casually interacting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa during a golf outing has ignited widespread criticism, with award-winning journalist Hopewell Chin’ono describing it as “an obscene theatre of power.”
The video, which has gone viral on social media, shows Tagwirei not only playing golf with the president but also patting him on the shoulder.
Chin’ono said the footage was intentionally released as a show of force within ZANU PF’s internal power dynamics.
He argued that the clip was designed to send a message, particularly to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s faction, following a public rebuke of Tagwirei by ZANU PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa earlier this week. Wrote Chin’ono on X:
Mnangagwa has three plans in place; Kuda Tagwirei takes over—not his deputy, General Constantino Chiwenga; or Mnangagwa secures a term extension and dies in office; or a dark horse—the foreign minister—steps in to block Chiwenga.
According to Chin’ono, the video is more than a PR moment—it is a deliberate display of proximity meant to assert Tagwirei’s place in the power matrix. He said:
When a notoriously corrupt businessman like Tagwirei is seen playing golf with the president… it is not just a golf game. It is a brazen public obscene theatre of power.
But when Tagwirei goes on to pet the president in front of the cameras, like a boy showing off his closeness to his uncle, it becomes something more politically disturbing.
This is not the behaviour of a future statesman since Tagwirei wants to be President too.
It is the behaviour of a man drunk on proximity to power; trying to project dominance through forced intimacy. It is undignified.
Chin’ono also pointed to the president’s apparent willingness to be treated casually in public by a businessman whose name has been linked to allegations of corruption and state capture. Said Chin’ono:
For Mnangagwa to publicly tolerate such behaviour is to admit, knowingly or not, that the presidency has been personalised and compromised and commands no respect in the eyes of the ordinary citizens.
Chin’ono said that in most political cultures, particularly in African presidential systems, such familiarity with a sitting head of state in public settings would be unthinkable.
He argued that the video exemplifies a broader crisis of leadership and national decorum. He said:
There are many presidents I talk to and can call at any time of the day and hug them when we meet at public gatherings, but I do not do that because I must respect the office they hold.
We joke about things privately, but publicly I would never display unbridled familiarity. Doing so shows a lack of sophistication and a poor understanding of statecraft.
The journalist added that diplomatic circles in Harare were “laughing at us,” over the video.
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