Zimbabwe is looking to bend its constitution for President Emmerson Mnangagwa

Members of Zimbabwe’s ruling party are motioning to extend the legal term of the president of the country, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

• Zimbabwe’s ruling party is seeking to extend president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term beyond 2028.
• There is a move to modify Zimbabwe’s Constitution to allow Mnangagwa to continue in office after 2028.
• President Mnangagwa has previously refused the offer to lead the party and the country beyond his constitutionally mandated two terms.

Under the country’s current constitution, Zimbabwe allows a maximum of two terms for a president, with each term lasting 5 years.

This denotes that Emmerson Mnangagwa’s tenure is set to come to an end by 2028.

However, a governing Zanu PF MP and an opposition Member of Parliament are purportedly intending to introduce a move in parliament to modify Zimbabwe’s Constitution to extend presidential term limits.

A Zanu PF member, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, told Studio 7 last night that they are aware of certain attempts to modify the constitution to allow Mnangagwa to continue in office after 2028.

“I think I can honestly say it’s madness! There’s no reason to extend ED’s term and it’s insanity for the opposition to openly advocate for the ruling party to continue ruling.

I know that as a party, we are really good at intelligence and corrupting the opposition, but this is brazenly ridiculous.”

Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, noted that it is possible to add two more years to the current president’s tenure should the people of Zimbabwe be on board with the idea.

This is hardly the first time this subject has been brought up.

In October last year, the Zanu PF Annual People’s Conference which took place in the city of Bulawayo took a surprising turn when party members adopted a motion requesting President Emmerson Mnangagwa lead the party and the country beyond his constitutionally mandated two terms.

The 82-year-old President in response refused the offer, reaffirming his commitment to the two-term limit set in Zimbabwe’s constitution.

However, as reported by the U.S multimedia agency, VOA, “A draft motion in possession of Studio 7 said to have been penciled by Zanu PF’s Energy Mutodi and Charles Moyo of the Citizens Coalition for Change is calling on Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi to urgently bring before the House of Assembly for its approval a constitutional amendment bill that seeks to amend Section 95(b) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe to “allow the term of the president to be extended by any period not exceeding 5 years as shall be determined by parliament.”

Statement from the opposition

Den Moyo, a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change USA province spoke against the move, stating; “Mnangagwa can try to pull the wool over the electorate that he has no intentions of running for a third term, but we know that he clandestinely supports the proposals presented by Energy Mutodi and Charles Moyo.

Mnangagwa will turn around and state that who is he to oppose the voice of the people as he is famously known for his ‘The voice of the people is the voice of God.'”

He also added, “This development is a disturbing attack on the Zimbabwean constitution, and we will see if they will even abide by the constitutional demands for a referendum for such a sweeping amendment.

General (Constantino) Chiwenga should challenge this motion as the person earmarked to take over from Mnangagwa, but again, he has been weakened as most of his military allies have been terminated.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa

Born in 1942, Zimbabwe’s 82-year-old president took office in 2017. He replaced controversial President Robert Mugabe, who had reigned for 40 years and refused to vacate his position.

The army finally helped to oust the late Robert Mugabe from office.

In 2023, he beat Nelson Chamisa to get a second term. He earned 52.6 percent of the vote, compared to Nelson’s 44%.