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Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is pursuing a second five-year term next week, which according to the constitution will be the last one since the maximum term of office is only two for President. That apart, a section of his supporters is pitching for a third term for him thereby suggesting a change in the constitution
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is pursuing a second five-year term next week, which according to the constitution will be the last one since the maximum term of office is only two for President. That apart, a section of his supporters is pitching for a third term for him thereby suggesting a change in the constitution.
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There was a development that led to this idea, although he would be in his mid 80’s by the time he finishes his second. The president while addressing a Christian gathering made a statement implying that continuous rule could be achieved through prayers at church. This remark reinforced the perception that the transformation he promised when he took over from long-standing authoritarian leader Robert Mugabe six years ago has not materialized.
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Sections of the ruling ZANU-PF party, including the youth and women’s wings, have also called for a constitutional amendment to extend his rule beyond the prescribed two terms. The 80-year-old leader was in exile when his leader Mugabe appeared to be grooming his wife for succession in 2017. Mnangagwa returned after a popular coup later that year, vowing to depart from Mugabe’s repressive and isolationist rule.
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Mnangagwa was previously associated with enforcing Mugabe’s tough actions. Those actions included the 1980s massacre of around 20,000 Ndebele ethnic minority individuals in the Matabeleland region and a violent crackdown on the opposition following Mugabe’s loss to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008., Mnangagwa initiated discussions about these past atrocities after becoming president and aimed to differentiate his administration from Mugabe’s. He made promises of compensating displaced white farmers, abolished a law mandating foreign business ownership be ceded to locals, and advocated for democracy. But all such promises still remain on paper.
