President Emmerson Mnangagwa has hinted he will still be in power in 2035, barely two months after changing the Constitution to extend his second and final term from 2028 to 2030.
He was speaking at the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo in Masvingo on Wednesday, 9 September, where he said the event would return to the province after rotating around the country for nine years.
He then declared that he would still be there in 2035, adding that he did not know whether everyone else would be.
Delivered as a joke in typical Mnangagwa fashion, the remark follows a familiar pattern. His push to extend his stay to 2030, now secured through a constitutional amendment, was also first introduced as a joke.
At the 8th Buy Zimbabwe Summit in Gweru in June 2018, just before the 30 July 2018 election, he told captains of industry:
“I would want to commend the Buy Zimbabwe team, which has continued to work closely with both private and public sectors to drive the buy local message and encourage the purchase of local products and services so that local businesses can thrive, thereby stimulating economic growth and creating decent jobs for us to be a middle-income country by 2030. I chose 2030, and it’s not a magic year, but I believe I will still be there.”
He then added in Shona: “2030 ndeendichipo / ndinenge ndichiripo” – meaning “I will still be there in 2030.”
At the time, he appeared to mean he would still be around to see Vision 2030 – his plan to make Zimbabwe an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.
Political commentator Hopewell Chin’ono said Zimbabweans have seen this method before. An outrageous political idea is introduced through humour, loyalists begin repeating it, and it is eventually turned into state policy.
Mnangagwa introduced Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3, which was passed by Parliament and signed into law as the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Act, 2026.
The Act extends the terms of the President, Parliament and local authorities from five to seven years and stretches Mnangagwa’s current term from 2028 to 2030.
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