Mbuso Fuzwayo Seeks Constitutional Court To Block Proposed Mnangagwa Term Extension

Mbuso Fuzwayo, secretary of the pressure group Ibhetshu Likazulu, has filed an application with the Constitutional Court seeking to block the ruling ZANU-PF party’s plan to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term beyond 2028.

In the application, Fuzwayo names ZANU-PF as the first respondent, alongside the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi; the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda; the Attorney General, Virginia Mabiza; and President Mnangagwa himself, all cited in their official capacities.

The legal challenge centres on ZANU-PF’s Resolution Number 1 of 2024, adopted at its National People’s Conference in Bulawayo in October 2024.

The resolution explicitly calls for the president’s term to be “extended beyond 2028 to 2030” and directs both the party and the government to “set in motion the necessary amendments to the National Constitution so as to give effect to this resolution.”

The directive was reaffirmed at the party’s 2025 conference in Mutare, which noted that “no notable steps have been taken” and instructed the Secretary of Legal Affairs and the Minister of Justice to ensure the resolution is “fully implemented” before the 2026 conference.

In his founding affidavit, Fuzwayo argues that the resolution poses a “real and imminent threat of unconstitutional action” that directly infringes on his fundamental rights. He is therefore seeking direct access to the Constitutional Court to challenge it.

Fuzwayo’s application sets out specific demands from the court. Should leave for direct access be granted, he intends to seek an interdiction preventing the respondents from taking any steps to implement Resolution Number 1 pending the determination of the matter.

He also seeks a declaration that sections 95(2)(b) and 143(1) constitute term-limit provisions under sections 328(1) and 328(7) of the Constitution, and a declaration that implementing ZANU-PF’s resolution infringes his rights under sections 3, 56, and 67 of the Constitution.

Central to Fuzwayo’s argument is Section 328 of the Constitution, which deals with amendments. Acting on legal advice, he contends that provisions establishing the presidential term of office (Section 95) and the lifespan of Parliament (Section 143) are “term-limit provisions.”

He argues that ZANU-PF’s resolution, by seeking to extend President Mnangagwa’s term without a referendum, is fundamentally unconstitutional.

The second applicant, Ibhetshu Likazulu, through its vice-chairperson Thamsanqa Ncube, associated itself with Fuzwayo’s affidavit, stating that one of the organisation’s core mandates is “to guard against the violation of the Constitution.”

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