POLITICAL parties and civic groups in Matabeleland are agitated by the ruling Zanu PF party’s resolution to fast-track the extension of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s tenure to 2030, describing the move as the creation of a dynasty.
The Zanu PF’s National People’s Conference, which ended in Mutare on Saturday, gave government a year to implement the resolution for the extension of Mnangagwa tenure. Mnangagwa’s constitutionally-mandate two terms end in 2028.
However, Mnangagwa said he had no intention of staying in office beyond the constitutional two terms.
The move to extend the Mnangagwa's tenure is being resisted even in Zanu PF structures although his supporters have stepped up efforts to manipulate the country’s Constitution.
Zapu’s Bulawayo provincial secretary, Vivian Siziba, told Southern Eye this week that plans to prolong Mnangagwa’s stay were an attempt to create a dynasty.
“The conference was all about creating the Mnangagwa dynasty, the creation of parallel civic groups for ED is illustrative of this fact,” he said.
Siziba said improvement of ordinary citizens' lives had never been a priority for Zanu PF which explains why after the end of 2023 the major concern was the “extension of the term of the President”.
He said instead of rolling out programmes on the awareness of the Constitution to civil servants, Zanu PF preferred to prioritise brainwashing them with its ideology.
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“Section 7 of the Constitution demands that the study of the Constitution should be rolled out in colleges, training institutions, security sector establishments let alone secondary schools, not the self-serving bankrupt partisan ideology,” Siziba said, referring to the Zanu PF resolution for the government to employ ideologically grounded workers in the civil service.
“If Zanu PF goes ahead with this kind of political behaviour the consequences will be unbearable. The outcomes of this conference demonstrate a serious determination to replace constitutional democracy with unrestrained totalitarianism.”
Ibhetshu LikaZulu secretary- general Mbuso Fuzwayo described the resolution as a “naked attempt” to manipulate the Constitution.
“This represents an assault on Zimbabwe’s democracy and a betrayal of the aspirations of millions who sacrificed for a democratic, accountable and prosperous Zimbabwe,” he said.
“The Constitution adopted in 2013 through a people-driven process, clearly limits presidential terms to two. Any attempt to amend this sacred provision through a partisan parliamentary vote undermines the sovereign will of the people and erodes constitutionalism — the very foundation of democratic governance.”
Fuzwayo said the resolution sought to secure the privileges of a few at the expense of the many — a continuation of national suffering disguised as political stability.
“Citizens must resist this. Ibhetshu LikaZulu urges all Zimbabweans — workers, students, churches, civil society, traditional leaders, and the diaspora — to use every democratic instrument available to resist this unconstitutional extension of power,” he said.
“We must defend the 2013 Constitution, the product of national consensus and struggle, from being mutilated to serve personal ambition.”
Democratic Party leader Wurayayi Zembe said Zimbabweans had been struggling to establish a “civilian democratic system of government based on regular periodic free and fair peaceful general elections”.
He said the Constitution failed to produce peaceful free and fair general elections and the formation of legitimate governments in 2013, 2018 and 2023.
Former Citizen Coalition for Change senator, Felix Magalela Sibanda, said there was need for a pushback by citizens against plans to prolong Mnangagwa’s stay in office.
“The masses should make a lot of noise and object to tampering with the Constitution without citizens' consent,” he said.
