ZANU PF's national conference resolution to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa's tenure to 2030 has been met with despair by Zimbabweans living in South Africa, who say it dashes their hopes for political and economic change.
The resolution was passed at the ruling party’s national people’s conference in Mutare last weekend.
Zanu PF directed party legal secretary, Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is also the Justice minister, to implement the changes within a year.
Mnangagwa's constitutionally-mandated two terms end in 2028, though he has stated he has no intention of staying beyond them.
For Zimbabweans abroad, the proposal signals a prolonged crisis, Butholezwe Nyathi, the chief operations officer of the African Development Consortium in South Africa, said.
“The means that the suffering of the Zimbabweans in foreign land will also be extended,” Nyathi said.
He cited economic collapse and political failure as the main reasons for emigration, adding that Mnangagwa's continued rule offers no incentive for people to return.
"Zanu-PF and Mnangagwa have been in the forefront of facilitating the decay, their continued stay will not bring anything new or sufficient change to attract people back to Zimbabwe within a foreseeable future," Nyathi said.
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“Without an improvement in the economy, the Zimbabweans will not return to Zimbabwe, even when deported, they will find ways back into South Africa."
Former South Africa Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) chairperson, Trust Ndlovu, said a prolonged Mnangagwa tenure means more vulnerability for diasporans.
“The odds expose them to indignity and violations of their basic fundamental rights,” Ndovu, who is now the director of Sadc Citizens democratic society, said.
“So in essence life of many diasporans is between a rock and surface.
“Their plight is exacerbated by the political uncertainty back home where Zanu PF have made a resolution to ban 2028 elections and extend Mnangagwa’s term limits by hook or crook, and so most see a bleak future and a zero change coming.”
Zimbabweans and other black immigrants residing in South Africa face targeted attacks from vigilante groups such as Dudula.
Dudula members led by their leaders have also raised schools, and hospitals, demanding that black foreign nationals be denied medication and access to education.
Research Institute of Zimbabwe executive director, Felix Magalela Sibanda, saidZanu PF’s 2030 agenda piles more misery on Zimbabweans based abroad.
“The move brings the whole fibre of Zimbabwe to a very low level," he said.
“It is pathetic and brewing dangerous relations.
“That is how wars start when the ruling elite is intransigent, and is against the masses."
The situation leaves diasporans in a precarious position, Nhlanhla Moses Ncube, speaker of the Nkayi Community Parliament, said.
“In South Africa they are unwanted and abused yet in Zimbabwe they are in an economic hot pot," Ncube said.
Rural Community Empowerment Trust coordinator Vumani Ndlovu said the Zimbabwean economy is in intensive care with no hope for improvement.
“So for Zimbabweans in SA, they will come back and add to the unemployment statistics,” Ndlovu said.
“As a result, the crime rate and all other forms of social ills will rise."
