Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU PF, is concluding its annual conference, where a resolution to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s tenure is expected to be formally endorsed, a move that has ignited significant political controversy and internal party divisions.
The decision follows a contentious resolution passed last year aiming to keep President Mnangagwa in power until 2030. According to retired journalist and political commentator Jealousy Mawarire, the party’s strategy involves amending the national constitution to bypass the legal requirement of holding a public referendum for such a change.
“The resolutions are out. They have adopted that the president should go on until 2030 and they’ve set a committee and instructed the minister of justice, who is the legal secretary in ZANU PF, to look at ways the constitution can be amended in order to extend the president’s stay in power to 2030,” Mawarire stated. “They want to do that by changing the constitution and avoiding the constitutional requirement of going to the people through a referendum.”
Mawarire further alleged that documents suggest a more ambitious plan is under consideration: a ten-year ban on elections, which could potentially extend Mnangagwa’s rule to 2035. This would result in an 18-year presidency for Mnangagwa, who is currently 81.
“Clearly, there’s a concerted effort to get us back to where we were with President Mugabe,” Mawarire said, accusing Mnangagwa of having “hoodwinked” observers into believing he would be a short-term leader. “It’s a national disaster,” he concluded, warning that banning elections would severely limit democratic avenues for changing leadership.
In response, political scientist and ZANU PF apologist Richard Mahomva, who clarified he was not the official party spokesperson, defended the party’s position. He argued that the push for an extension originates from the party’s grassroots and is not a personal initiative of the president.
“His excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa has not made any commitments to want to extend his term. He is on record… making clear pronouncements that he is a constitutionalist,” Mahomva said.
He reframed the issue as one of party survival rather than individual ambition. “The issue is not about Mnangagwa the person but it is about the longevity of ZANU PF the institution because the fundamental function of political parties is for them to stay in power,” Mahomva stated. He confirmed the party’s conference had formally proposed that “legal processes should take effect” to give this “existential wish” constitutional expression.
When pressed on why the party would avoid a referendum if the support was genuinely popular, Mahomva suggested that a referendum could be part of the process. “If the referendum route is going to happen and it’s accepted it means that surely the position that the party has got a majority would actually be cemented,” he said, while acknowledging the party’s historical wariness of referendums, referencing a 2000 vote that “almost decimated the fortunes of ZANU PF.”
Mahomva also pushed back against characterizations of national decline, citing economic growth, a large steel plant, and infrastructure development. He attributed Zimbabwe’s challenges to structural deficits left by colonialism rather than governance failures or corruption.
The debate highlights a deepening political rift in Zimbabwe, pitting the ruling party’s stated objectives against constitutional norms and raising questions about the future of the country’s democratic processes.
