MDC President Douglas Mwonzora has said there is no way ZANU-PF can legally amend Zimbabwe’s Constitution to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term beyond 2028 without holding a referendum.
Some political commentators, including Jonathan Moyo and Tawanda Nyambirai, have argued that the Constitution could be amended without a referendum.
But speaking to journalists in Bulawayo last week, Mwonzora, who was one of the MDC negotiators involved in the 2009 Constitution-making process under the Government of National Unity (GNU), insisted that ZANU-PF would be required to conduct a referendum to change presidential term limits. Said Mwonzora:
“In terms of the Constitution, there must be a referendum. You cannot extend a term of office without going to a referendum.
“So, there will be the first referendum simply to deal with whether to extend the term of office or not. It will have no one’s name in the referendum question.
“But in terms of Section 328 subsection 7 of the Constitution, even if the term of office is increased, the law says that it shall not benefit the incumbent.
“Now, if they want to make President Mnangagwa benefit from the extension of term, we must have a second referendum. And this referendum will be person-specific.
“These two questions cannot be in the same referendum. So, these referendums have to be apart.
“The law says that the referenda must not be within six months of each other. We are going to mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to vote no in both referendums.”
Mwonzora said he was confident that the public, including certain ZANU PF supporters, would reject any bid to extend the president’s term. He said:
“We know that half of ZANU PF will vote no. We all know that all the right-thinking people within the opposition will vote no.
“We also know that there are political people who love their country and will vote no.
“We are confident of handing ZANU PF its second referendum defeat after the 2000 Constitutional Commission referendum.”
More: CITE
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