HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, has resolved to amend the constitution to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s tenure by two years — from 2028 to 2030 — in a move that opposition leaders have denounced as unconstitutional and undemocratic.
The proposal, adopted at the party’s annual conference late Saturday, would allow the 83-year-old leader to remain in office beyond his second five-year term, which is due to end in 2028 under the current constitution.
ZANU-PF’s secretary for legal affairs and Minister of Justice, Ziyambi Ziyambi, told delegates that both the government and the party had been “directed to initiate the requisite legislative amendments” to implement the resolution, arguing that the move was necessary to “ensure continuity, stability, and sustained transformation of the nation.”
However, the proposal has drawn immediate backlash from opposition figures, who accuse ZANU-PF of attempting to erode Zimbabwe’s constitutional democracy.
Jameson Timba, a veteran opposition politician, warned that the move amounted to “rule by decree.” He said, “We are a constitutional democracy and the supremacy of the Constitution must remain non-negotiable. Zimbabwe should not be governed by conference resolutions or partisan directives.”
Timba urged the Speaker of Parliament and the Minister of Justice to clarify the legal standing of the proposal and called for “civic vigilance and peaceful defence of constitutionalism.”
Another opposition leader, Job Sikhala, facilitator of the National Democratic Working Group, described the resolution as “a huge provocation by a political party whose modus operandi has always been predatory.”
President Mnangagwa, who seized power in a 2017 military coup that ousted the late Robert Mugabe, has previously stated that he had no intention of clinging to power.
The Zimbabwean Constitution currently limits presidents to two five-year terms, a safeguard widely viewed as essential to prevent a return to authoritarian rule.
ZANU-PF, which has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, maintains a commanding parliamentary majority, making the proposed constitutional amendment likely to pass if formally tabled.
The development underscores growing political tension in a nation still grappling with economic stagnation, inflation, and mounting public debt — raising fears of a renewed slide toward entrenched autocracy.
