Zimbabwe’s Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved controversial constitutional amendments that could keep President Emmerson Mnangagwa in office until 2030, handing the proposed changes full parliamentary backing after they were earlier endorsed by the National Assembly.
The amendments, regarded as some of the most contentious political reforms in recent years, were approved by 75 senators, while four voted against, according to Senate President Mabel Chinomona.
The bill will now return to the National Assembly for approval of technical adjustments before it is sent to Mnangagwa for assent and enactment into law.
The sweeping constitutional changes, which critics have described as a “constitutional coup”, include provisions extending presidential and parliamentary terms from five to seven years. If enacted, the measure would effectively extend Mnangagwa’s final constitutionally permitted term beyond its current expiry date, allowing him to remain in office until 2030.
Another amendment would transfer the power to appoint the president to Parliament, replacing direct presidential elections that have been in place since 1987, seven years after Zimbabwe gained independence.
Zimbabwe’s opposition, already weakened by years of political repression and disputed elections, has strongly criticised the proposed amendments, arguing that they would further entrench the ruling Zanu-PF party’s grip on power in the mineral-rich southern African nation.
Political activists opposed to the reforms have reported intimidation, arrests and assaults allegedly carried out by suspected state agents as they sought to mobilise resistance against the bill.
Mnangagwa, popularly known as “The Crocodile” because of his reputation for political ruthlessness, assumed power in 2017 following a military-backed intervention that removed long-time ruler Robert Mugabe from office at the age of 93 after 37 years in power.
The 83-year-old leader subsequently won presidential elections in 2018 and 2023 and is currently serving what was expected to be his final five-year term.
Defending the proposal when it was approved by Cabinet in February, the government said the constitutional changes would help ensure continuity in governance and development.
The Cabinet argued that the amendments would “enhance political stability and policy continuity to allow development programmes to be implemented to completion”.
Opposition Vows Court Challenge
Opposition leaders have pledged to continue challenging the amendments through the courts, insisting that the reforms violate fundamental constitutional rights.
Senior opposition figure and former senator David Coltart told AFP that the proposed amendments constituted an “effective breach” of constitutional provisions, particularly citizens’ right to elect public officials.
“They were an effective breach of constitutional provisions, including on the right to vote for public officials, and so should be put to a national referendum,” Coltart said.
Expressing scepticism about the ruling party’s willingness to comply with constitutional requirements, he added: “I have no doubt that the faction of Zanu-PF promoting this will ignore their constitutional obligations.”
“The only way we will be able to get a referendum is if the Constitutional Court issues an order that this is compulsory, as it is,” he said.
However, Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court on June 17 dismissed an earlier challenge to the amendment bill, ruling that the application lacked legal merit.
Rights Groups, Journalists Criticise Amendments
Prominent Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono warned that the legislation would further strengthen the ruling party’s dominance.
Writing on X, Chin’ono said the enactment of the bill “will represent a further consolidation of Zanu-PF’s hold on power and diminish the prospects of Zimbabwe having a president from outside the ruling party in the foreseeable future.”
Similarly, Musa Kika, director of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, argued that the legislation should still be challenged in court.
The bill should be referred to the judiciary, he said, “if only for the record, and to also expose them for being complicit in constitutional mutilation.”
Government officials have rejected calls for a referendum, maintaining that extensive public consultations, including hearings and written submissions, demonstrated overwhelming support for the constitutional reforms.
Meanwhile, rights organisation Human Rights Watch accused authorities of using intimidation and violence against critics of the amendments.
In a March statement, the organisation said: “Over the last few months, the police and unidentified armed men have threatened, harassed, and beat up several people who are opposed to the proposed constitutional amendment.”
Boluwatife Enome
Follow us on:
