CONSTITUTIONAL law expert Lovemore Madhuku says a third term bid being pursued by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s loyalists is near impossible and will encounter a lot of hurdles.
Zanu PF last year adopted a resolution to extend Mnangagwa’s term by two years to 2030, although the veteran politician has insisted that he does not intend to prolong his stay.
Supporters are galvanising the grassroots for the extension of Mnangagwa’s term.
In an interview with Open Parly recently, Madhuku said it was a mammoth task for Mnangagwa to get a third term.
“I think I can say that it is almost impossible. Legally yes you can go through the steps, but once you know what those steps are, you realise that it’s almost impossible,” Madhuku said.
He said the steps would require a publication of the first Bill where they seek to amend the Constitution.
“Ordinary people will have to debate it within a 90-day period. Thereafter, take it to Parliament. It must get a two-thirds majority both in the National Assembly and in the Senate and thereafter, there must be a referendum,” he said.
“We should then vote yes with a majority. Now, that alone tells you that it will be very difficult because I know that in the 90-day period for debate and so on, it will come out very clearly that most Zimbabweans don’t support it and when it goes to Parliament, we’re not sure how they will vote.
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“It cannot be assumed that since Zanu PF has a two-thirds majority they’ll obtain the two-thirds majority. They may not obtain the two-thirds majority. But if they get it, they have to go to a referendum.”
“That is in respect of the first Bill and then, with a referendum voting yes or no, it will just be a referendum on President Mnangagwa and I don’t think that he wants it. It doesn’t matter how you couch the Bill.
“When you then go to the stage of voting yes or no, it will be very simple. Do you want the President to continue or you would want the President to serve 10 years? So most people that respect the President would simply want him to rest after 10 years. So when you say possible, I think it might be a very loose word.”
He said the Constitution provided procedures for its amendment, but achieving the constitutional thresholds would be difficult.
“So that will be with the Bill number one and then for it to then be signed into law, the President must sign it into law. So Mnangagwa himself will be the one who has to put his signature for the approval to the amendment of the Constitution,” he said.
Mnangagwa on Sunday hosted legislators from Zanu PF and a handful from a splinter Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) faction led by self-imposed secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu at his Precabe Farm in Kwekwe.
The push for Mnangagwa’s extended presidency is already in motion, employing a calculated three pronged strategy — securing a Zanu PF resolution for constitutional change, using Tshabangu’s splinter CCC faction to ratify the amendments and mobilising grassroots support for the referendum to finalise the process.
