Zimbabwe: Cabinet Backs Presidential Term Extension Amid Opposition

Zimbabwe’s cabinet has endorsed draft legislation that would extend presidential terms from five to seven years and change the method of electing the head of state, potentially allowing President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 83, to remain in office until 2030. The move sets up a constitutional battle in a parliament dominated by the ruling ZANU-PF party.

Term Limits Under Revision

Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told a news briefing that the bill would be sent to the speaker of parliament and published in the official gazette before lawmakers consider it. The proposed amendments would lengthen the presidential term from five to seven years and replace direct popular elections with a system in which parliament chooses the president.

Mnangagwa, elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2023, is currently due to step down in 2028 after serving two five-year terms. The amendments would extend his tenure to 2030. He came to power in 2017 following a military-backed coup that ended Robert Mugabe’s 30-year rule.

ZANU-PF has governed Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. The party holds a two-thirds majority in the lower house and overwhelmingly controls the upper house, where traditional leaders and other aligned figures generally vote with it. That arithmetic gives it the capacity to amend the constitution.

“Politically Destabilising”

Opposition leaders and legal experts argue that changes affecting term limits require a national referendum.

The proposed amendments are illegal and unconstitutional in that they infringe the term limit provision of the constitution.

Ex-Finance Minister & VP of CCC Party Tendai Biti

According to Biti, for the proposed change they would need two referendums. “The first approving the removal of the term limit, the second referendum approving the incumbent to benefit from the amendments.”

Jameson Timba, a senior opposition figure, described the cabinet’s approval as “politically destabilising” and said the Defend the Constitution Platform would consult lawyers and brief regional and international partners. He termed what the cabinet was doing as a “constitutional coup.”

David Coltart, mayor of Bulawayo, said: “Any amendment which has the ‘effect’ of extending an incumbent’s tenure should be subjected to a referendum.”

He added: “They know that if that happens, they will fail, so they will do all in their power to prevent a referendum from happening.”

Professor Lovemore Madhuku called the move “totally unacceptable” and warned it could trigger major upheaval, stating: “As far as we know, they do not even have a referendum on the agenda.”

2030 Agenda and Institutional Control

A post-cabinet statement framed the amendments as a means to “enhance political stability and policy continuity to allow development programmes to be implemented to completion.”

According to Cleopas H. Mukungunugwa, a ZANU-PF politician who served in various diplomatic roles, the amendment is designed to reinforce political stability and effect measures to reduce institutional overlap, strengthen oversight, and align governance structures with long term development goals.

The amendment also proposes allowing the president to appoint 10 additional senators, increasing the Senate to 90 seats.

The ruling party’s “2030 agenda” has circulated for months, with attempts to protest met by a police crackdown that resulted in many arrests.

Mnangagwa has faced criticism over alleged corruption and repression during his tenure, as well as economic hardship affecting Zimbabweans. Analysts and opposition figures maintain that constitutional amendments altering presidential tenure would require popular approval.

With ZANU-PF’s supermajority in both chambers and control over key institutions, the legislative pathway is clear, but the political legitimacy of the changes remains contested.