{"id":4581,"date":"2026-02-10T21:33:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T21:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule"},"modified":"2026-02-10T23:22:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:22:52","slug":"zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>Zimbabwe\u2019s cabinet has approved a bill to amend the constitution by extending the presidential term from five to seven years, a move that would allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to remain in office until 2030.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed changes also include a provision to have the president elected by parliament rather than through a direct popular vote.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said at a press conference that the bill would be submitted to the speaker of parliament and published in the official gazette before being debated by lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p>Mnangagwa was due to step down in 2028 after completing two five-year terms, amid an internal succession struggle within the ruling ZANU-PF party.<\/p>\n<p>He came to power following a military coup that ousted longtime leader Robert Mugabe in 2017. Opposition politicians have strongly condemned the ruling party\u2019s efforts to extend his tenure.<\/p>\n<p>Jameson Timba, a senior figure in Zimbabwe\u2019s divided opposition, said in a statement that the cabinet\u2019s approval of the amendments \u201cundermines political stability.\u201d He added that a group known as the \u201cConstitutional Defence Platform\u201d would immediately consult lawyers and brief regional and international partners as part of efforts to oppose the changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press. Zimbabwe\u2019s cabinet has approved a bill to amend the constitution by extending the presidential term from five to seven years, a move that would allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to remain in office until 2030. The proposed changes also include a provision to have the president elected by parliament rather than through a direct popular [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-4581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. Zimbabwe\u2019s cabinet has approved a bill to ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. Zimbabwe\u2019s cabinet has approved a bill to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa Press English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T21:33:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T23:22:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"631\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"416\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-10T21:33:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-10T23:22:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule\"},\"wordCount\":213,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule\",\"name\":\"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule - Africa Press English\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-10T21:33:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-10T23:22:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press. Zimbabwe\u2019s cabinet has approved a bill to ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg\",\"width\":631,\"height\":416,\"caption\":\"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press English\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u0648\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639 \u0625\u0641\u0631\u064a\u0642\u064a \u064a\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0628\u0644\u063a\u0629 \u0628\u0644\u062f\u0627\u0646\u0647\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule - Africa Press English","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press. Zimbabwe\u2019s cabinet has approved a bill to ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press. Zimbabwe\u2019s cabinet has approved a bill to ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule","og_site_name":"Africa Press English","article_published_time":"2026-02-10T21:33:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-10T23:22:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":631,"height":416,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule","datePublished":"2026-02-10T21:33:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-10T23:22:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule"},"wordCount":213,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg","keywords":["Africa"],"articleSection":["Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule","name":"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule - Africa Press English","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-10T21:33:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-10T23:22:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press. Zimbabwe\u2019s cabinet has approved a bill to ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770765661.569304.jpg","width":631,"height":416,"caption":"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/zimbabwe-cabinet-backs-bill-to-extend-presidents-rule#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zimbabwe Cabinet Backs Bill to Extend President\u2019S Rule"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/","name":"Africa Press English","description":"\u0623\u0648\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639 \u0625\u0641\u0631\u064a\u0642\u064a \u064a\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0628\u0644\u063a\u0629 \u0628\u0644\u062f\u0627\u0646\u0647","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}