Almost three years to the day, a video circulated of a man who was ranting outside the Bulawayo High Court about the unfairness of the then Nelson Chamisa-led Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) candidate nomination process.
Outside of people in mainstream politics, very few knew him.
Many dismissed him as a bitter person, while others thought he made sense even if that boat had sailed.
A stone’s throw away stood Kucaca Phulu, a well-known lawyer and politician, who had fallen by the wayside in the opposition party’s nomination process.
At this point, nobody, probably not the man himself, had an idea that he was about to change the country’s political trajectory in the manner that he was about.
When Zimbabweans voted in the August 2023 general elections, few could have predicted that one of the country’s most consequential political figures would not be President Emmerson Mnangagwa nor Chamisa, but the then little-known opposition politician named Sengezo Tshabangu.
Barely known to many Zimbabweans before the elections, Tshabangu would, within months, plunge the country’s largest opposition party into an existential crisis, recall dozens of elected legislators and councillors, triggering a series of costly by-elections and dominating national political discourse and emerge as one of the most powerful figures in Zimbabwean opposition politics.
His rise has been as extraordinary as it has been controversial.
Before October 2023, Tshabangu was an obscure figure even in opposition circles.
He had spent more than two decades moving through the factions and splinters that have defined the country's opposition movement since 1999.
Described as a "political journeyman", who navigated the trenches of opposition factionalism with the agility of a seasoned survivor, Tshabangu held a series of minor positions in several parties without ever winning a national election.
His political career began in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) under the late Morgan Tsvangirai, where he served as Matabeleland North provincial chairperson in 2008.
In 2014, he was part of the faction that split from Tsvangirai to form Tendai Biti's People's Democratic Party (PDP).
He later rejoined the mainstream MDC Alliance when it was formed ahead of the 2018 elections and attended the key meetings that rebranded the alliance as the CCC in January 2022.
According to CCC officials, Chamisa co-opted Tshabangu into the party's national executive committee after the formation of the MDC Alliance in 2018.
He came from the trade union movement and was described as one of the oldest members of the opposition.
Yet despite this long association, he remained largely unknown to the public and even to fellow opposition parliamentarians.
"Nobody knew him," a CCC parliamentarian who had just won re-election weeks before Tshabangu's emergence said.
"I can honestly not even tell you his history. He wasn't known by anyone until he wrote a letter saying that he's now the secretary-general."
Tshabangu thrust himself into the spotlight in October 2023 when he declared himself the CCC's interim secretary-general and notified Parliament that several CCC legislators had ceased to be party members.
The recalls were accepted, setting off a chain of political events that dramatically altered the country's parliamentary landscape.
Despite repeated rejection by Chamisa and senior CCC officials, Tshabangu pressed ahead with further recalls targeting MPs, senators and councillors.
Court battles followed, while decisions by Parliament, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the courts gave effect to many of the recalls, steadily eroding the opposition's representation and deepening divisions within the party.
The turmoil culminated in Chamisa's departure from the CCC in January 2024 after he declared the party had been infiltrated and could no longer serve as a vehicle for democratic change.
In March 2024, Tshabangu was sworn in as a senator for Matabeleland North province.
In May 2024, National Assembly Speaker Jacob Mudenda announced that Tshabangu had been appointed leader of the opposition in Parliament though it was later revealed that no meeting had been held among CCC MPs to make this decision.
Nearly three years later, Tshabangu remains one of the most polarising figures in Zimbabwean politics.
To supporters, he exposed deep constitutional and organisational flaws within the opposition.
To critics, he became the face of the opposition's destruction and a central figure in developments that have strengthened Zanu PF's political dominance.
Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) president, Mqondisi Moyo, believes the political consequences of Tshabangu's actions are beyond dispute.
"From my assessment, there is substantial publicly documented evidence that the political developments associated with Tshabangu have fundamentally altered Zimbabwe's opposition landscape," Moyo said.
"Whether one supports or opposes him, it is difficult to dispute that the recalls of dozens of opposition legislators and councillors created significant instability within the opposition and materially affected its parliamentary strength and organisational cohesion."
He said the fragmentation of the opposition and subsequent political developments had weakened organised opposition politics and strengthened the governing party's position.
"The practical consequence of these developments has been the weakening of organised opposition politics and the consolidation of the ruling party's political position," Moyo said.
However, he cautioned against assigning motives to Tshabangu without evidence.
"Whether Tshabangu intended to strengthen Zanu PF is ultimately a matter known only to him. It would not be appropriate to present speculation as fact."
A Bulawayo political analyst was less restrained, arguing that Tshabangu had achieved what years of political contestation had failed to accomplish.
"Tshabangu, whether on his own or with the help of Zanu PF, has succeeded in annihilating the opposition, at least for now," the analyst said.
"He seems to have studied the weaknesses and loopholes in the opposition and struck with a chilling effect to control and manage the opposition. He seems to be doing everything possible to aid the regime."
The analyst described Tshabangu as "both an opportunist and a strategic political actor" who had exploited divisions within the CCC to reshape Zimbabwe's political landscape.
"In a way, Zanu PF has no opposition to worry about inside Parliament, but the opposition is swelling outside. The current dominance or one-party state scenario is artificial," the analyst said.
For Moyo , the MRP president, however, the Tshabangu phenomenon is bigger than one politician.
He argued it reflects decades of institutional weakness within the country's opposition, where leadership disputes, constitutional ambiguities and factional battles have repeatedly undermined parties seeking to challenge Zanu PF.
As debate continues over whether Tshabangu acted independently, out of political ambition or in ways that objectively benefited the ruling party, one fact is difficult to ignore: no opposition politician in recent history has altered Zimbabwe's political landscape as profoundly or as rapidly.
Whether history remembers him as the architect of the opposition's implosion, a political opportunist or the man who exposed its deepest structural flaws, Tshabangu has become one of the defining figures of Zimbabwe's post-2023 political era.