ZANU-PF will collapse within four years if President Emmerson Mnangagwa forces through a “nonsensical” bid to extend his rule, prominent Zimbabwean jurist Professor Lovemore Madhuku has warned.
Speaking out after the Constitutional Court threw out a legal challenge against the controversial Constitution Amendment Bill 3 on technical grounds, Madhuku insisted the legislative battle is far from over. He revealed that his clients, a group of highly influential liberation war veterans, have already instructed him to take the fight to the High Court.
“Mnangagwa is wasting his time. He will simply lose out when this gets back to a court,” Madhuku stated. “It will simply be declared null and void. There will not even be any room for a referendum.”
The bill, which seeks to extend presidential terms from five to seven years and abolish direct presidential elections in favour of an elite parliamentary vote, has exposed severe fractures within Zimbabwe’s ruling establishment. Rather than a standard opposition-led dispute, this resistance is driven by the regime’s own historical backbone; the war veterans.
According to Madhuku, the push to alter the constitution is not supported by the broader ruling party, but is instead driven by a isolated faction at the top.
“It is fact that the overwhelming majority of members of the ruling party, ZANU-PF, above 90%, do not like what is happening,” Madhuku claimed, explaining that the choice to put war veterans at the forefront of the legal challenge was a calculated strategy from within the party. “They are doing it to go through the steps, just fearing that the elite is still wielding sufficient power.”
By dismissing the initial challenges on a “technical knockout” without ruling on the actual substance, the seven-judge bench has temporarily left the bill on track in parliament, where ZANU-PF holds a two-thirds majority. However, Madhuku argues that the clear text of Section 328(7) of the constitution explicitly prohibits incumbents from lengthening their own terms in office.
While the state has historically suppressed mass demonstrations through severe force, Madhuku warned that stripping citizens of their direct vote crosses a dangerous line. If the courts fail to nullify the law, he predicts a shift in public tolerance that will trigger widespread regional instability and ultimately cost the ruling party its grip on power.
“Whichever way it goes,” Madhuku concluded, “there will be no ZANU-PF in the next three or four years.”
–ChannelAfrica–
