AMH Chairman, Trevor Ncube, Accuses Ramaphosa Of Endorsing Mnangagwa “Constitutional Coup”

Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor Ncube has penned a scathing open letter to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing him of legitimising President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s “constitutional coup” by visiting his farm last week.

In the letter, published on Tuesday, 12 May, Ncube said Ramaphosa’s private visit came at a “moment of profound constitutional peril” as Mnangagwa pushes Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 through Parliament.

The Bill, Ncube wrote, would “strip power from the people and concentrate it in the hands of the executive” by potentially allowing Parliament, not voters, to choose the president. He said public hearings on the Bill had been “carefully managed”, with opposing voices “shouted down, intimidated, or simply denied a microphone”.

“This is not consultation. It is choreography. And it is unfolding in plain sight,” Ncube said.

He criticised Ramaphosa for “breaking bread” with Mnangagwa in the company of businessmen Paul Tungwarara, Kudakwashe Tagwirei and Wicknell Chivayo, whom he described as “passengers on a gravy train” whose interests are tied to Mnangagwa’s political survival.

Ncube said speculation was “sharp and serious” that Tagwirei was being groomed as Mnangagwa’s successor — “a man who, by every honest measure, is unelectable” — and could be installed if the amendment passes.

“Whether or not you knew this, your visit has been seized upon and deployed as a continental endorsement of Mnangagwa’s constitutional coup,” he told Ramaphosa.

Ncube expressed concern that Ramaphosa held no meetings with civil society, opposition leaders, churches, business or the legal fraternity during the trip. “A SADC chairman seeking insight into Zimbabwe does not confine himself to the orchard of the man at the centre of the storm,” Ncube said.

He drew parallels with former President Thabo Mbeki, who once declared there was “no crisis in Zimbabwe” after a bloody election, saying South Africa’s “quiet diplomacy” and “ruling-party fraternity” had entrenched repression and poverty.

“The bill for those errors is being paid by ordinary Zimbabweans: by the orphan in Makokoba who goes to bed hungry, by the widow in Mbare who can no longer afford her husband’s medicines,” Ncube wrote.

He argued that South Africa was also paying the price through increased migration. “Each new amendment, each rigged hearing, each plundered tender deepens the despair that pushes our young people onto the buses heading south.”

Ncube said Zimbabweans were not asking for foreign rescue, but for non-interference. “We ask only that those with influence do us the basic dignity of not making our task harder.”

He called on Ramaphosa to decline future invitations to Mnangagwa’s farm and to insist that any SADC engagement with Zimbabwe include “the voices Mnangagwa has tried to silence”. He also urged Ramaphosa to publicly call for the withdrawal of Amendment Bill No. 3 and the protection of the 2013 constitution.

“And if none of this interests you… then please, with respect, stay out of our affairs,” he said. “You cannot help us by helping those who are suffocating us.”

Ncube, a South African permanent resident, stressed that  Zimbabweans wanted a “new social compact” rooted in the rule of law that returns sovereignty to citizens.

“ZANU-PF helped liberate Zimbabwe. It is not Zimbabwe. The distinction is everything,” he said.

“The Zimbabwe we are fighting for is the Zimbabwe South Africa deserves as a neighbour: prosperous, democratic, rooted in the rule of law, and confident enough to keep its sons and daughters at home.”