 In 2006, the ZFTU voted to expel him as president.In 2009, the ZFTU announced that Makwarimba was suspended pending a police investigation into allegations of unspecified misconduct, although the Zimbabwean government continued to consider him the president.In both instances, he either retained his presidency or regained it later, because news articles from 2007 to 2018 continue to refer to him as the president of the ZFTU.