{"id":40887,"date":"2026-07-28T14:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=40887"},"modified":"2026-07-28T14:29:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:29:59","slug":"protests-erupt-in-drc-over-controversial-constitutional-reform-plan","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/protests-erupt-in-drc-over-controversial-constitutional-reform-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Protests erupt in DRC over controversial constitutional reform plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Widespread protests have erupted across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi\u2019s proposed constitutional reforms, as political tensions mount over potential changes to presidential term limits.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Organised by a coalition of civil society groups and citizen movements, the demonstrations reflect deepening public frustration. Organisers argue that pushing through constitutional amendments is ill-timed, given the country&#8217;s severe security crisis in the east, ongoing humanitarian emergencies, and economic hardship.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties, who accuse Tshisekedi of laying the groundwork to bypass the constitutional two-term limit and secure a third term in office once his current mandate expires in 2028.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Reporting from the ground, Correspondent Jimmy Shukrani Bakomera noted that opposition leaders and civil society networks are mobilising further actions, warning that altering the fundamental law risks destabilising the nation&#8217;s fragile democratic framework.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22455,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-40887","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Civil society rallies across DRC against proposed Constitutional changes","published_date":"2026-07-28 14:29:34","news_description":"Civil society rallies across DRC against proposed Constitutional changes","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40888,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40887\/revisions\/40888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=40887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}