ANOTHER war veterans grouping yesterday warned that the plot to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term of office to 2030 was pushing the country into chaos reminiscent of 2017 when the army intervened to remove the late former President Robert Mugabe.
The warning by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association chairperson, Andrease Mathibela, follows an explosive Press conference held on Sunday where ex-combatants led by Zanu PF Central Committee member Blessed Geza called on Mnangagwa to step down.
Mnangagwa, who is on leave, last year said he was not interested in extending his tenure when it expires in 2028.
Zanu PF, however, adopted a resolution at its annual conference in October in Bulawayo to extend Mnangagwa’s term of office by two years with some of hisloyalists saying the President must rule till 2033.
Addressing a Press conference in the capital, Mathibela said attempts to extend Mnangagwa’s term of office were an assault on democracy.
“Likewise, we are consulting the legality of the Zanu PF resolution of October 2024,” Mathibela said.
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“We regard the resolution by Zanu PF to extend the term of office of the current administration as inconsistent with constitutional provisions and as an attempt to manage their succession challenges by creating a constitutional crisis.”
He said the 2030 agenda was likely to cause civil unrest.
“While it is not our place to wade in the succession battles in any political formation, it is prudent to jolt Zanu PF’s short memory by reminding them of the reasons why the military launched Operation Restore Legacy in November 2017,” he said.
“Operation Restore Legacy was an intervention in Zanu PF where political temperatures which were approaching a boiling point.
“It is now the same poor succession management that is threatening to engulf the nation.”
Last week, Information minister Jenfan Muswere issued a statement saying it is not a criminal offence for Zimbabweans to express their views on the 2030 agenda.
Muswere was responding to call by the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations urging Mnangagwa to resist calls by his loyalists to extend his tenure.
On Sunday, self-imposed Citizens Coalition for Change secretary-general, Sengezo Tshabangu, who was captured on camera endorsing the 2030 agenda, said he told Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda that his camp would oppose the 2030 agenda.
Tshabangu faced a backlash following a visit to the President’s farm where he endorsed the 2030 agenda.
“2028 postponement of elections and or 2030 agenda cannot be indivualised to the extent of messianic redemption of a country by an individual,” Tshabangu’s spokesperson, Nqobizitha Mlilo, said.
“Senator Tshabangu met with the Speaker of Parliament, Advocate Jacob Mudenda and conveyed our position that the idea of a third term is as repulsive and repugnant as it is inconsistent with our national aspirations. It is unnecessarily divisive. We will oppose it.
“We suggested that the idea should be abandoned so as not to cause unnecessary national disharmony.”
Mnangagwa assumed office in 2017 following a coup that ousted Mugabe who sought to extend his long stay in power despite popular resistance.