War veteran Victor Matemadanda is reportedly battling for his life at a hospital in Harare due to suspected food poisoning after attending the war veterans’ national assembly in the capital.
Matemadanda, who is also the country's ambassador to Mozambique, was in the intensive care unit yesterday, a source said.
It could not be independently verified when he was admitted to the government health institution, or where he is said to have suffered the food poisoning.
However, it was confirmed that he attended the war veterans’ event that was addressed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa last Thursday.
Matemadanda is a former Zanu PF political commissar, having been appointed in June 2019 to replace army general Engelbert Rugeje.
His career has seen significant rises and falls within the party.
He served as secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association before his removal.
In 2016, he was expelled for criticising Robert Mugabe but returned to favour after the 2017 coup that brought Mnangagwa to power.
He later became Defence and War Veterans deputy minister, but was removed in March 2021 over allegations of incompetence and presiding over chaotic party elections.
Matemadanda was subsequently appointed Ambassador to Mozambique, effectively sidelining him from domestic politics.
At the height of Zanu PF factionalism in 2020, Matemadanda fell seriously ill, displaying symptoms of “itchiness of eyes, sweating profusely, swelling of the body and vomiting badly.”
A picture circulated online showing the war veteran with swollen eyes, and there was widespread speculation that he had been poisoned.
Zanu PF is experiencing another bout of factionalism over Mnangagwa’s succession, which has seen war veterans siding with Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.
Chiwenga insists that Zanu PF is being hijacked by selfish business people who are allegedly looting the country’s resources with impunity. Mnangagwa has systematically edged out former army generals seen as potential successors or threats in Zanu PF's intensifying succession wars. Since coming to power, Mnangagwa has retired or reassigned several high-profile military figures to weaken rival factions loyal to his deputy or other contenders.
Analysts view these moves as part of a calculated strategy to consolidate the president's control over the party and military, while keeping ambitious former generals at arm's length from the levers of domestic power. Matemadanda's diplomatic posting, though outwardly a promotion, was widely seen as another such sidelining, removing a vocal war veteran from the cut-and-thrust of internal party maneuvering.