Khama Accuses Mnangagwa Of “Rigging The Constitution” To Cling To Power

Former Botswana president Ian Khama has castigated President Emmerson Mnangagwa over Zimbabwe’s controversial Constitution Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3), accusing him of joining a growing list of African leaders who “cling to power” by manipulating constitutions.

“Here we go again. Another power-hungry president has the constitution amended through rigging and cash inducements to extend his term of office,” said Khama.

“Zimbabwe has now become the latest in a growing list of countries whose presidents want to cling to power and manipulate the constitution to achieve that.”

He named Cameroon’s Paul Biya (“43 years in power and 93 years old”), Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni (“40 years in power”), and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame (“26 years in power”) as examples, warning that “political assassinations, fabricated charges and detentions, kidnappings and disappearances” had become the modus operandi of “such tyrants”.

Khama, who left office in 2018 after serving Botswana’s two-term limit, said Zimbabweans had endured the same pattern “from the days of Gukurahundi to the present day”.

The remarks follow ZANU-PF’s drive for Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3, which seeks to lengthen the presidential term from five to seven years — effectively extending Mnangagwa’s tenure to 2030.

The bill also proposes electing the president through Parliament rather than by public vote, and shifting the next election from 2028 to 2030.

Khama is no stranger to Zimbabwean politics. As Botswana’s president from 2008 to 2018, he was one of the region’s loudest critics of Robert Mugabe, calling in 2017 for Mugabe to step down after the military intervention, and earlier urging a re-run of Zimbabwe’s disputed 2008 election.

He has continued that stance against Mnangagwa, previously describing ZANU-PF as a “brutal” regime presiding over “40 years of stagnation”, and more recently calling for SADC sanctions if allegations of Zimbabwean election interference in the region prove true.

Khama stepped down voluntarily after two terms, a rarity in the region he now criticises, and has since lived mostly in South Africa amid a fallout with his successor.

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