No Constitutional violation to allow third term: E...

No Constitutional violation to allow third term: ED

Oscar J Jeke

President Mnangagwa has said that Zanu PF will not violate the Constitution to push for his third term but has not dismissed the possibility of reforms.

“Well, I am very happy that Zimbabweans are very imaginative. They can imagine anything, which shows there is democracy in the country, you see. But we in Zanu PF are very democratic and we obey the Constitution.

"There is not an iota of evidence where Zanu PF or I, as President, has ever expressed the violation of our Constitution. But we allow people to dream properly or widely. They will still wake up and find things are working and the Constitution hasn’t changed,” President Mnangagwa said in an interview with Brick by Brick magazine featured by The Sunday Mail.

Mnangagwa then went on to say that the country makes the Constitution and not vice versa.

“As long as your Constitution is serving you well, keep it. If it’s not serving you well, you sit down and amend the provisions that no longer serve the interests of the country,” Mnangagwa said.

To go for a third term for Mnangagwa, Zanu PF would have to start with the Constitutional amendment of Section 91 (2) through a two-thirds majority of both houses of Parliament to expunge the presidential limits.

But to amend Section 328(7) which stops the incumbent from benefitting from the third term chance, a national referendum must be held.

https://zimbabwenow.co.zw/articles/8508/talk-of-mnangagwa-third-term---what-does-the-law-say

While prior to the August 2023 general election, Mnangagwa said that this would be his last term, there has been a growing call for extension by some Zanu PF quarters.

Masvingo provincial chairman Ezra Chadzamira, Vice President Kembo Mohadi and Mashonaland East chairman Daniel Garwe have added their voices to the apparent push for ED’s third term.

But Zanu PF Director of Information and Publicity, Farai Marapira, dismissed the third term speculation in early March this year saying the 2030 slogan is about the middle income economy aspirations and not a third term for the incumbent president.

https://zimbabwenow.co.zw/articles/8577/zanu-pf-denies-third-term-agenda-tied-to-2030-slogan