(HARARE, Oct. 2025) – Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, has resolved to push ahead with a constitutional amendment that would extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa‘s term of office by two years that enables the 83-year-old leader to continue in power until 2030. The decision, made at the ZANU-PF 22nd Annual People’s Conference in Mutare on October 19, was met with outrage from opposition parties, anxiety from legal minds and hushed concerns from within ZANU-PF.
A Controversial Resolution
The resolution to extend the mandate of Mnangagwa was tabled by Ziyambi Ziyambi, the Minister of Justice and secretary of ZANU-PF for legal affairs, who motioned that the government, departmental, and party “must take the necessary legal and administrative actions” to implement the resolution prior to the next conference.
“The continuity and stability of the Zimbabwean transformation rests on leaders who have the courage, persistence, and commitment,” Ziyambi told delegates. “The president’s term in office from 2023 will be extended until 2030, so we can achieve the full realization of vision 2030.”
“Vision 2030” is the name of Mnangagwa’s long-term economic framework that aims to reposition Zimbabwe as an “upper-middle-income economy” by the end of this decade, with supporters of the policy goal declaring that it can only happen with uninterrupted political leadership.
The resolution passed by the conference was met with cheers and chants of “2030! 2030!” from delegates in attendance, many of whom are provincial chairpersons or high-profile delegates in attendance, appointed for their loyalty to Mnangagwa.
Legal and Political Implications
According to article 28 of the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe, a president is allowed to be elected to two five-year terms of office. Mnangagwa is legally on his second and final term, which is due to conclude in 2028, and extending it will require a constitutional amendment, which includes debate and voting in both houses of parliament and potentially a national referendum.
ZANU-PF has an overwhelming majority under the ruling government and has 176 members in the 280 members in the National Assembly, and if ZANU-PF parliamentarians voted as a block it could occur. Members of the civil society ZimRights and constitutional lawyers were quick to oppose any possible amendments as a violation and attack on democracy and the rule of law.
“This is constitutionally impossible, unlawful, and in violation of democratic renewal” said a member of the opposition Jameson Timba who is a high-ranking member of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). “Zimbabwe must not be ruled by a resolution passed at a conference or a partisan policy declaration. The supremacy of the Constitution is not negotiable.”
Tendai Biti is a leading constitutional lawyer of the opposition warned again of the threat of a legal challenge response to a motion to extend presedial powers. “What ZANU-PF is trying is a dangerous manipulation of the people’s charter” Biti wrote on X. In closing he called for civic resistance to what he declares is “an anti-people agenda” throughout the country.
Factional Rifts Inside ZANU-PF
The initiative to extend Mnangagwa’s presidency has revealed deep-seated divisions within ZANU-PF, especially between the supporters of the president and those allied with Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who was previously an army general and led the coup in 2017 that ended Robert Mugabe’s long-term presidency and enabled Mnangagwa to take power.
Sources at the Mutare conference reported that Chiwenga and his supporters were (perhaps significantly) left out of the discussion on the extension, and while Mnangagwa did not explicitly mention the extension in his closing comments, insiders say Chiwenga’s faction has read the proposal as a direct move to undermine Chiwenga’s own ambitions for the presidency.
“The 2030 agenda is nothing more than a move to consolidate power and block anyone from making leadership moves in the future,” remarked one senior ZANU-PF official speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Political analysts have suggested for some time that tensions between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga could develop into a full-blown succession battle as 2028, the end of the president’s current term, approaches. The proposed extension might merely serve to hasten the issue.
Public Reaction and Crackdown Fears
The public has taken a mixed response to the proposal, largely due to concerns about dwindling civic space in Zimbabwe. In Harare, on October 18, police arrested several elderly activists who had staged a small demonstration demanding that Mnangagwa step down in 2028 as the constitution demands. The demonstration was officially labelled as them “attempting to incite public disorder” and they are currently being detained after refusing bail.
Since the arrests, there have been protests from other citizens, but there is significant police presence in the major cities, along with ongoing threats of mass arrests. Many citizens expressed their frustrations online, which led to hashtags such as #NoTo2030 and **#RetirePeace trend online, though these captions were soon censored more broadly by social media platforms.
Organizations advocating for human rights continue to speak about a potential crackdown for whatever protests do arise. “Any attempt to extend Mnangagwa’s rule will only prolong Zimbabwe’s slide toward authoritarianism,” Dewa Mavhinga, the director of the Southern Africa Human Rights Observatory explained. “The state’s contempt for dissent illustrates how weak and dysfunctional the country’s democratic institutions have become.”
Economic Backdrop and International Response
The surrounding economic context is deteriorating. Earlier this year, Zimbabwe’s inflation hit over 70 percent, the country experiences regular fuel shortages, lack of healthcare facilities and the local currency is losing value, all worsening people’s living conditions. Mnangagwa came to power offering to stabilize the economy and regain international legitimacy, but after eight years his ability to fulfill that promise continues to generate public anger.
Despite the worsening the economic situation, supporters of Mnangagwa argue it is crucial that he extend his tenure now, in order to continue with the same policies. “We cannot afford a leadership change in the midst of Vision 2030,” ZANU-PF youth member Tapiwa Macheka said. “The opposition has no coherent plan for economic recovery.”
Such changes have prompted suspicions from foreign players. Both the European Union and United States, who have previously sanctioned Zimbabwean officials suspected of anti-democratic governance practices, indicated their “concerns” with the change. An unnamed western diplomat based in Harare told the Washington Post that the proposed changes, “could only serve to further ally Zimbabwe with a single nation, and in a time where already there is limited foreign investment and aid.”
Mnangagwa’s Silence
Despite high public pressure, President Mnangagwa himself did not immediately embrace or reject the idea of extending his leadership. His concluding impressions at the Mutare conference reaffirmed party unity and national unity but did not mention any constitutional amendments.
“We are not the alpha and omega of Zimbabwe’s journey,” Mnangagwa said. “Our task is to carry on the legacy of liberation passed down to us in order to maintain peaceful unity, stability and progress.”
Some analysts are suggesting the president’s ambiguity is indeed for practice, allowing loyalists to gage public sentiments and insulate the president from potential backlash if the approach proves unpopular.
The ZANU-PF resolution to expand the rule of Mnangagwa until 2030 is a turning point for Zimbabwe’s fragile democracy; supporters see this as a move towards government stability and continuity under “Vision 2030,” while critics see it as an unconstitutional power grab in the trend of Robert Mugabe in the last years before his ousting.
As the state government begins the work drafting a legal process of extension, Zimbabwe finds itself at a fork in the road that has been seen before– to retain democratic processes or maintain leadership through political processes. Whether Mnangagwa uses this opportunity to extend leadership or to distance himself politically from it, the position of the flow of power already suggests the continued power of ZANU-PF as the leader of Zimbabwe and is another flag in the old grove of democratic governance in one of Africa’s most politically stable state’s in a region rich with resilience.