Some Zanu PF leaders, including Vice President Kembo Mohadi, have endorsed a third-term bid for President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is currently serving his last lap after winning two disputed elections.
Mohadi, Zanu PF’s Masvingo provincial chairperson Robson Mavhenyengwa, regional minister Ezra Chadzamira and the party’s local Youth League called for the extension of his term Wednesday at a National Youth Day event in the southern city.
The day formerly known as the 21st February Movement is the birth date of the late former President Robert Mugabe, whose long stay in office was always sustained by Zanu PF in the same manner Mnangagwa may remain in office. He toppled Mugabe in a defacto military coup in 2017.
Chadzamara said, “We all want you (Mnangagwa) to stay in office beyond your presidential term. You will be there in 2030.”
This has become a chorus in the Zanu PF ranks with youth spearheading the move and vowing to stop anyone who will attempt to block his third term.
Reacting to calls for him to remain in office, Mnangagwa said only God knows when he will leave office.
“I don’t have the power to say so as this matter is in the hands of God.”
Zimbabwe’s constitution clearly limits a president’s stay in power to two terms. For any constitutional changes, the country needs to hold a referendum after a motion has been initiated in parliament. Currently Zanu PF has a two-thirds majority in the House of Assembly but falls short of the required numbers in the Senate.
Constitutional law expert, Professor Lovemore Madhuku, said a third term for Mnangagwa will be tragic for Zimbabwe.
“This idea of a third term is totally undemocratic and ought not to be pursued ... A person is better off in the first 10 years if they are lucky to be in office twice but to just think of a third term it would be to be very retrogressive in our country because we used to have a constitution that didn’t limit the number of terms that a person could serve as a president,” said Madhuku, who is also leader of the opposition National Constitutional Assembly.
Mnangagwa was once quoted by Cable News Network as saying he will leave office when he completes his two-terms.
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