Prominent constitutional law scholar Professor Lovemore Madhuku has strongly criticised ZANU PF’s reported efforts to unlawfully extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s tenure beyond the constitutional limit of two terms, warning that any such move would be legally indefensible under Zimbabwe’s current laws.
Although President Mnangagwa has yet to publicly declare intentions to remain in office past 2028, political observers believe the ruling party is exploring legal loopholes and possible constitutional manipulation to achieve this goal — potentially offering incentives to lawmakers to back the plan.
Speaking to 263Chat, Madhuku dismissed the initiative, emphasising that Zimbabwe’s Constitution provides no legal path to allow a president to remain in power after serving two full terms.
“We don’t yet know the exact approach they intend to take, because they haven’t formally proposed any constitutional amendment,” said Madhuku. “But what is crystal clear is that under the current constitutional framework, it is not legally possible for a president to remain in office beyond the expiry of their term in 2028.”
The push to extend Mnangagwa’s presidency was reportedly adopted as a resolution at ZANU PF’s 2024 Congress in Bulawayo. Since then, it has become a source of national tension, evoking memories of Robert Mugabe’s decades-long grip on power, which only ended with a military-assisted transition in 2017 after 37 years in office.
Zimbabwe’s Constitution, under Section 91(2), restricts the presidency to two five-year terms. Any attempt to alter presidential term limits or extend executive powers would require not just parliamentary approval but a national referendum — a hurdle ZANU PF is allegedly trying to avoid.
“There are only a few constitutional amendments that can be made without a referendum,” explained Madhuku. “However, changes that affect the presidency, the structure of the state, or the exercise of executive authority must go to a referendum. Avoiding a referendum suggests they know the idea would not have public support.”
In contrast, exiled former minister and academic Jonathan Moyo has proposed a controversial legal interpretation. According to Moyo, the Constitution allows for a recalibration of presidential term duration without altering the term limit clause. He argues that Section 95(2)(b), which sets the length of each presidential term, could be amended — for example, from five to seven years — without breaching Section 91(2)’s two-term cap.
“Changing the term length could extend Mnangagwa’s tenure to 2030 through a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Parliament, without triggering a referendum,” Moyo argued on social media platform X.
This view is reportedly part of Moyo’s involvement in a broader ZANU PF-aligned strategy document known as the Breaking Barriers Initiative, which includes controversial proposals to suspend elections altogether.
Efforts to keep Mnangagwa in power beyond 2028 have also inflamed factional tensions within ZANU PF. A term extension would potentially block Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s expected bid for the presidency, despite widespread speculation he is positioning himself as Mnangagwa’s successor.
Instead, extending Mnangagwa’s rule could clear the path for businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a close ally of the president who was recently appointed to the party’s influential Central Committee.
Analysts warn that sidelining Chiwenga might provoke further instability, with some drawing parallels to the 2017 coup, which he led to remove Mugabe.
Madhuku was clear in his warning against political parties attempting to override constitutional processes.
“No single political party has the right to impose a constitution on the people,” he said. “Term limits weren’t designed to remove poor leaders — those are usually voted out. Term limits are meant to stop even the most effective leaders from clinging to power indefinitely. That’s the essence of democracy.”
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