Zimbabwean tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei's political rise tied to power broker, investigation alleges

Zimbabwean fuel and mining tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei rose to political power through a network run by a little-known broker who first brought him into President Emmerson Mnangagwa's inner circle, an investigation by Takabatana Investigative Magazine alleges.

The magazine's November editions, whose findings circulated online on Nov. 11, place Julius Mapingura Charumbira, known as Shumba Mpostori, at the center of that network. The report describes him as a broker who manages religious networks, business interests and political alliances without holding any prominent public office.

According to the investigation, unnamed sources say Charumbira introduced Tagwirei into Mnangagwa's circle after Robert Mugabe was forced out in 2017. The report also cites historical records that it says tie Charumbira to political intelligence maneuvers around the 2014 fall of then Vice President Joice Mujuru.

Neither Tagwirei nor Charumbira has publicly responded to the claims, and the published report carries no comment from either man or from the government.

Building a base

The magazine alleges that Tagwirei is building parallel structures through business investments, churches and community projects to create a national following and alternative routes to power. It points to the launch of his Taguta Energy Facility and Travel Plaza in Headlands, in Manicaland province, which it says drew political, business and religious elites.

The report links those moves to what it calls Tagwirei's "2030 ambitions," a reference to the debate inside the ruling ZANU-PF party over who will succeed Mnangagwa.

From fuel trader to minister

Tagwirei's political rise has been rapid. ZANU-PF co-opted him onto its central committee in October 2025. Mnangagwa appointed him to the Senate, where he took his seat on Aug. 18 this year, and later named him minister of economic development and investment promotion.

He made his fortune through Sakunda Holdings, the fuel trading company he founded in 2005. In 2013, Sakunda formed Trafigura Zimbabwe with Swiss commodity trader Trafigura Group, a venture that gave it a central role in the country's fuel supply. Trafigura bought out his stake in 2019. Mining assets linked to Sakunda were later folded into Kuvimba Mining House, a public-private company with interests in gold, platinum, nickel and lithium.

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Tagwirei and Sakunda in August 2020, accusing him of using his ties to Mnangagwa to win state contracts. In March 2024, Washington ended its broader Zimbabwe sanctions program but designated Tagwirei again, together with his wife Sandra, under its Global Magnitsky corruption program. Britain sanctioned him in July 2021.

Tagwirei has denied wrongdoing and has described corruption allegations against him as misunderstandings. In July 2024, Zimbabwe's parliamentary Public Accounts Committee cleared him of embezzling $3 billion from the Command Agriculture farm-financing program.