Major scandal over Mnangagwa 2030 bid

Published: 2 hours ago

A volatile political crisis is brewing in Zimbabwe, with credible sources alleging senior officials in Zanu-PF, together with judges and legal operatives, are quietly orchestrating a constitutional manoeuvre to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa's term in office from 2028 to 2030 - bypassing the constitutionally mandated limit of two five-year terms.

According to interviews with judicial insiders and political strategists, the plot entails the filing of a pro-Zanu-PF application in the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe (ConCourt) by proxy, designed to be dismissed on a technicality. The objective: secure a legal precedent to justify the term extension and circumvent the need for a national referendum. One senior government official told one local news website:

"Officials from Zanu-PF, the Ministry of Justice and their political strategists want to cause a court application to be filed by proxy… to get the ConCourt under Chief Justice Luke Malaba to dismiss it to facilitate Mnangagwa's 2030 political agenda."

The source added:

"Even if there is a money incentive, I can't - let the President get his term extension properly if the people want that: the constitutional route is there. But political manipulators don't want that, they want shortcuts because they are afraid of a referendum… That's Banana Republic politics."

The backdrop to this controversy lies in Zanu-PF's annual conference in Mutare, where delegates passed a resolution calling for extension of the presidency to 2030 and cancellation of the scheduled 2028 elections.

Legal experts point out that under the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe, any amendment to term limits must be approved by referendum and cannot be applied retrospectively to the sitting President without one.

Compounding the suspicion are suspicions of judicial complicity. The case of Chief Justice Luke Malaba - whose tenure was controversially extended through constitutional amendment in 2021 - is cited by insiders as a precedent. At that time, the High Court ruled the extension unconstitutional, but the ConCourt overturned the decision. Critics say the judiciary's independence was compromised.

A senior lawyer involved in opposition-constitutional affairs commented:

"This is a sinister political plot. We can't have politicians and judges corruptly colluding to undermine the constitution for short-term individual political and monetary benefits. It's an attack on the constitution, rule of law and democracy."

Advocate Thabani Mpofu, a prominent lawyer, raised questions in a social-media post about shadowy applications circulating on social networks, naming one "More-Precision Engineering" as being involved in a proxy court case tied to the term‐extension agenda.

Observers warn that Zimbabwe's increasingly acrimonious political environment is showing signs of tipping into instability. A recent arson attack on the Sapes Trust venue for a debate on terms and a bomb scare at an activist's home are cited as part of the wider suppression of dissent.

The implications are serious: undermining presidential term limits threatens democratic safeguards such as leadership alternation, checks and balances, and institutional integrity. Across Africa, similar term-limit gambits have preceded coups, civil unrest and democratic rollback.

At least two major international outlets reported the term-extension campaign, noting that the ruling party's resolution to extend Mnangagwa's rule has raised alarm among opposition figures and constitutional scholars alike.

Zimbabwe now finds itself at a crossroads: whether to uphold its constitutional order or accept a quiet collusion of politicians and judges to entrench power. The world watches, and many Zimbabweans ask whether the country will repeat past mistakes - or resist the allure of a new authoritarian era.
- online