Mumbengegwi served for a time as Minister of Higher Education and as
ZANU-PF Chairperson for
Masvingo. According to the Commercial Farmers Union in 2002, he took over Irvin Farm from its white owners as part of
land reform. He was subsequently appointed as Minister of Industry and International Trade in August 2002, and he was appointed as the Minister of State for Indigenisation and Empowerment in 2005. On 6 February 2007 he was moved to the position of
Finance Minister, replacing
Herbert Murerwa. In the
ZANU-PF primaries for the
March 2008 parliamentary election, Mumbengegwi sought the party's nomination for the Chivi-Mwenezi Senate constituency in
Masvingo Province, but he was defeated by
Josiah Hungwe, a former Governor of
Masvingo Province. Mumbengegwi disputed the result and the ZANU-PF national election directorate ordered the vote to be held over again, but Mumbengegwi was defeated for a second time, winning 4,906 votes against 8,736 votes for Hungwe, and therefore Hungwe received the ZANU-PF nomination.
The Herald reported on 3 January 2009 that Mumbengegwi had been dismissed from the Cabinet earlier in the week, along with 11 other ministers, because he no longer held any seat in Parliament. He was put on the
United States sanctions list in 2003 and remained on the list until his death. ==Death==