Harare – Leading Zimbabwe opposition figures accused the government Wednesday of a constitutional “coup” after the cabinet approved amendments that would allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his term in office.
“We have got an incumbent who wants to railroad himself, using the tyrannical and dictatorial tendencies of his rule, into another two years to 2030,” he said.
The ruling party’s “2030 agenda” was on the cards for months before it was announced as a party position in October, and attempts to demonstrate against the plan have been met with a crackdown that put scores of people in jail.
The post-cabinet statement said the amendments it had passed would “enhance political stability and policy continuity”.
But Jameson Timba, a Citizens Coalition for Change leader, accused the president and his party of using “formal processes” such as cabinet decisions “to entrench power without the free and direct consent of the people”.
“What is unfolding in Zimbabwe is not constitutional reform. It is a constitutional coup,” he said on X.
Calls for intervention
Mnangagwa came to power in 2017 in a military-backed coup that ousted Robert Mugabe, who had ruled the southern African country for 37 years.
He was elected to a five-year term in 2018 and again in 2023, but has been accused of allowing rampant corruption to the benefit of the Zanu-PF – which has been in power since independence in 1980 – while eroding democratic rights.
Sikhala’s National Democratic Working Group said it had asked the African Union to intervene.
The continental body “cannot remain mute when a coup is in motion in one of its member states”, it said, in a letter seen by AFP, claiming that “anti-coup peaceful campaigners are under severe repression, attack and arbitrary arrests”.
Sikhala, a former CCC lawmaker, was arrested in South Africa last year for alleged possession of explosives. He says they were planted in his vehicle in an apparent assassination attempt he blamed on state actors.
Amid claims of infighting within the Zanu-PF, it was unclear whether anger over the attempts to keep Mnangagwa in power would spill over into protests. However, legal challenges at the Constitutional Court were expected.
“Zimbabweans have got the right to approach the courts of law,” prominent lawyer Tendai Biti told AFP.
The proposed amendments were “outrageous and unacceptable”, said opposition politician Trust Chikohora. “I am sure the people of Zimbabwe are not going to take this lying down this time.”
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Source: AFP
