‘Constitutional coup’ claims as Zimbabwe senate approves extending presidential term | Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is on the verge of amending its constitution to give the president more terms in office; The government says this change will bring stability, but opponents describe it as a “constitutional coup”.
The upper house of Zimbabwe’s parliament voted 75-4 on Wednesday in favor of constitutional amendments that will allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to remain in office until 2030, extending his presidential term from five to seven years.
The bill, which also calls for the appointment of the president by parliament instead of direct presidential elections, passed the lower house last week, and the government said the president is expected to sign the bill into law next month.
Opposition figures fear the changes will further tighten the grip on power of Mnangagwa, known as “Crocodile”, and his Zanu-PF party, which has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
Mnangagwa, now 83, won a second term in office with 52.6% of the vote in the 2023 presidential election amid criticism of the electoral process from international observers and opposition figures.
Critics of the constitutional changes have claimed that Zimbabwe could return to the repression seen under Robert Mugabe, who resigned after 37 years in power in 2017 following a coup led by Mnangagwa.
Makomborero Haruzivishe, spokesman for the Constitution Defenders Forum (CDF), a group campaigning against the changes, said: “This is a calculated constitutional coup against the people of Zimbabwe. It deprives citizens of their fundamental right to directly elect the president, replacing popular sovereignty with parliamentary election of a captured legislature.”
Nick Mangwana, permanent secretary of Zimbabwe’s ministry of information, said: “To describe this legitimate legislative exercise as a ‘coup’ is not only factually incorrect but also deeply disrespectful of the sovereign parliamentary processes of the Republic of Zimbabwe.”
He said: “The main goal is to increase political stability and ensure continuity of policy… We are not eliminating presidential term limits, we are just adjusting the election cycle to reduce the frequency of highly contested, polarizing elections.”
Mangwana rejected suggestions that the constitutional amendments should be approved in a referendum, saying the attorney general could not find any legal basis to request the people’s vote.
Those who opposed the constitutional amendment said they were subjected to harassment and were prevented from campaigning. Tendai Biti, one of those who convened the CDF, said security forces had raided his office six times since October 2025.
Police responding to claims that Biti’s driver was assaulted in a similar incident in March. in question officers had been sent to Biti’s office “to maintain law and order”.
Also in March, lawyer Lovemore Madhuku, who challenged the proposed amendment to the constitutional court, said he was beaten by a group of men wearing balaclavas and then drove away in unmarked vehicles, followed by two police vehicles. local media It was published Photos of Madhuku with large stripes on her upper back.
Zimbabwe’s police force in question The statement said: “The police did not intervene in the alleged incident.”
Mangwana said: “If any person (whether Professor Madhuku, Mr Biti or anyone else) has credible evidence of assault or harassment by government officials, my office calls on them to formally lodge a complaint with the Department of Justice. [police] or to the relevant judicial authorities.”
Mangwana said the consultation process received 537,000 submissions and that “the overwhelming majority supported the constitutional amendments”.
Jameson Timba, a minister in Zimbabwe’s national unity government from 2009 to 2013, said he and his allies were prevented from speaking during public engagement events.
Timba said: “We are just the tip of the iceberg. In almost every region [the government] It was gone, people were not given the opportunity to speak… These public hearings are not a representation of anything. “They are fraudsters.”
Zimbabwe became internationally isolated in the 2000s after the Mugabe government seized more than 4,000 farms belonging to mostly white farmers. Economic output fell, leading to hyperinflation in 2008, after which Mugabe was forced into a coalition government with the opposition at the time.
Many Zimbabweans see Mnangagwa’s administration as a continuation of Mugabe’s rule. USA in 2024 sanctions imposed Mnangagwa accused his wife Auxillia and nine others of corruption.
