Mpofu has been moved to the less influential position of Secretary for ICT—a demotion widely seen as an attempt to weaken Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s grip within the ruling party’s volatile succession battles. The move marks a dramatic fall from grace for Mpofu, a veteran politician whose career has spanned decades and who once styled himself as “the most obedient son” of former president Robert Mugabe. Born in 1951 in Jambezi, Matabeleland North, Mpofu joined the liberation struggle in the 1970s and later rose through Zanu PF ranks, holding multiple cabinet posts, including Mines, Transport, and Home Affairs.
Yet Mpofu’s legacy is inseparable from controversy. As Minister of Mines between 2009 and 2013, he presided over Zimbabwe’s diamond sector during the peak of operations in Marange. Billions of dollars in diamond revenue vanished under his watch, with civil society and opposition figures accusing him of overseeing massive looting that deprived the treasury of much-needed resources.
While Mpofu has consistently denied personal wrongdoing, leaked reports—including a 2013 parliamentary committee investigation—alleged gross mismanagement and corruption. Ironically, it was this shadowy diamond wealth that allegedly provided the financial muscle behind the 2017 coup that ousted Mugabe. Security insiders have long claimed that proceeds from illicit diamond dealings helped bankroll the logistics of the military intervention led by Chiwenga and supported by Mnangagwa.
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Mpofu, once seen as loyal to Mugabe, abandoned the veteran leader at his weakest moment, siding instead with the Mnangagwa-Chiwenga alliance that ushered in the “new dispensation.” His loyalty, however, has since shifted closer to Chiwenga, creating friction with Mnangagwa. That positioning has now cost him dearly.
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