Lacoste, also known as Team Lacoste, is the name of a political faction within ZANU-PF, the ruling party of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. It is allied to

Emmerson Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa (, American English, US: (); born 15 September 1942) is a Zimbabwean politician who has served as President of Zimbabwe since 24 November 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former President Robert Muga ...

, who was sworn in as president on 24 November 2017, following the 2017 Zimbabwe coup d'état. The grouping is named Lacoste after the French clothing company whose logo is a crocodile; Mnangagwa is commonly known as 'Ngwena' which means crocodile in the

Shona language Shona (; sn, chiShona) is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It was codified by the colonial government in the 1950s. According to ''Ethnologue'', Shona, comprising the Zezuru, Korekore and Karanga dialects, is spoken by about 7 ...

. Mnangagwa obtained this nickname during the independence war against white rule, and other key figures linked to the faction such as

Chris Mutsvangwa Christopher Hatikure Mutsvangwa (born 24 May 1955) is a Zimbabwean politician, diplomat and businessman. A veteran of the Rhodesian Bush War, Mutsvangwa served the government of independent Zimbabwe and the ZANU-PF party in a number of roles, i ...

have a similar background as veterans of this war. During the years leading up to the coup and overthrow of

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

, Lacoste and

Generation 40 Generation 40 (G40) was a faction of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF). The G40 was an informal group of ZANU–PF politicians working on generation change by replacing the older officials of the party. The group p ...

, a group of politicians close to

Grace Mugabe Grace Ntombizodwa Mugabe (' Marufu; born 23 July 1965) is a Zimbabwean entrepreneur, politician and the widow of the late President Robert Mugabe. She served as the First Lady of Zimbabwe from 1996 until her husband's resignation in November 201 ...

were rivals. The two sides frequently traded insults at political rallies.

References

Political party factions ZANU–PF Emmerson Mnangagwa {{Zimbabwe-stub