By Cde Nhamo Taneta
Minister of home affairs Kazembe Kazembe has dropped a bombshell.
Not the small chimhandara type, but the one that makes everyone look around and pretend they didn’t hear it.
He says senior ZANU PF officials are using their positions to peddle drugs.
True Patriots, this is of course a charge few expected from within the ruling elite.
Kazembe told local media that powerful figures in the ruling party are allegedly involved in selling narcotics, including the highly addictive crystal meth known locally as mutoriro or guka.
Zimbabwe, it seems, is diversifying exports—Vision 2030 but make it chemical.
This follows similar remarks from youth development minister Tino Machakaire in September, who openly accused senior ZANU PF figures of using the party as a shield for their illicit activities.
When ministers start exposing each other, you know the family meeting has collapsed.
The claims surface amid a national drug crisis.
A recent Afrobarometer survey found most Zimbabweans see drug and substance abuse as widespread, particularly affecting youth, with those aged 16–25 accounting for a high share of drug-related psychiatric admissions.
Government says it’s fighting back.
From March to June 2025, authorities carried out more than 200 raids, dismantled drug bases and arrested over 1 400 suspects, shutting down dozens of dens.
Mostly small fish, of course, the kind that fry quickly and don’t ask questions.
Police in Midlands Province alone recently dismantled 73 drug bases and arrested nearly 400 suspects.
The scoreboard looks impressive, even if the referees refuse to check the VIP pavilion.
Yet ministers didn’t name the officials they accuse, and no high-profile arrests have followed.
In Zimbabwean politics, names are like sadza at a funeral, everyone knows it’s there, but no one wants to serve it.
Critics say this points to protected networks deep within the state and a disconnect between public pronouncements and action.
Or as the elders say, Promises fill the basket, but action fills the granary.
True Patriots, our beloved country, Zimbabwe is considering mandatory drug testing in schools and has approved plans for a dedicated National Drug and Substance Abuse Control Agency to bolster enforcement and rehabilitation.
The children will pee in cups, while the chefs of the kitchen sip bottled water.
Mutoriro, crystal meth, has been linked to a surge in addiction and deaths, particularly among youths, prompting courts to hand down jail terms even for small amounts.
Zero tolerance on the street, zero curiosity upstairs.
This raging drug crisis has government scrambling to show it is in control.
As True Patriots, it forces us to ask the big question that will any powerful names be held to account, or is this yet another classic case of name-dropping without actually naming names or taking action?
