Constitutional law expert Professor Lovemore Madhuku has said that the constitutional amendments proposed by ZANU PF cannot be enacted without a national referendum.
A referendum is a direct vote in which eligible citizens are asked to decide on a specific political or social question. Rather than leaving the matter to elected representatives, the issue is put to the public for approval or rejection.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet approved a draft Constitutional Amendment Bill seeking to extend presidential and parliamentary terms from five to seven years.
If adopted, the changes would extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s second and final term by two years, from 2028 to 2030.
Speaking to reporters in Harare, Madhuku warned that Zimbabwe would become “a laughing stock” if Mnangagwa were allowed to remain in office beyond the end of his second term in 2028. Said Madhuku:
“We don’t want to have a former president who is sitting there after they’ve completed their terms, which would simply make Zimbabwe a laughing stock.
“The kind of amendments that they’re talking about, it is not possible to have those amendments without a referendum.
“There are very few small things that you can amend in the constitution without going to a referendum.
“But the kind of things you’re talking about, if you want to tamper with the term of office of the president, or the exercise of presidential powers, or the structure of the state, you cannot avoid a referendum.
“What is disturbing is that this very idea that you want to avoid a referendum means that they know that the proposal is not popular with the people.
“One would want to have a situation where you go to a referendum whenever you have an issue to do with the constitution.”
Madhuku said that since the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe has held two referenda even when the Constitution did not require them, yet ZANU-PF is now unwilling to hold a referendum when the Constitution explicitly demands it. He said:
“I must make it clear to everyone that when we went to the referendum last time in 2013 and a referendum in 2000, there was no constitutional provision requiring a referendum.
“But it was quite common sense, and the only politically sensible way of proceeding was to have a referendum because these are issues to do with the constitution.
“So we are a country that has gone through two referendums, and we should know better that whenever you want to do a fundamental change to the constitution, you’ll have to do a referendum.”
Madhuku, who also leads the opposition National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), said he will oppose ZANU PF’s plans to amend the Constitution unilaterally. He said:
“But let’s be clear with the proposals that they are making, they cannot avoid a referendum. So, as NCA, we are totally opposed to it.
“We will obviously do everything to make sure that that doesn’t happen. It is wrong for any political party on its own to want to impose a constitution on the people.
“That constitution, whatever problems we had with the constitution-making process as NCA, but we accept that it then became a product of the people after a referendum. It can then suddenly not go back to a political party.
“So there’s everything wrong with a political party making it public that this is their intended purpose and that that intended purpose has nothing to do with everyone, it just has to do with them. That is wrong on its own.
“We will actually explore simply shooting down the proposal on the mere basis that the messenger is incorrect.
“You have heard this issue of saying don’t shoot the messenger, but with constitutional reform, you can even shoot the messenger.”
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