Africa-Press – Zambia. If you can’t finish national projects during your term, you are incompetent – Madhuku slams Mnangagwa’s 2030 extension bid
Constitutional lawyer and opposition leader Lovemore Madhuku has dismissed arguments that President Emmerson Mnangagwa requires more time in office to complete national projects, describing the reasoning as constitutionally unsound and politically disingenuous.
Madhuku made the remarks during an interview with local online television platform, Citizens Voice Network, as debate intensifies following Cabinet’s approval of the Constitutional Amend ment Bill on Tuesday at a meeting chaired by Mnangagwa.
The amendment seeks to extend the tenures of both the President and Parliament by seven years from the current five. This is despite Mnangagwa’s repeated public assurances that he would step down at the end of his constitutionally mandated second term in 2028.
The development has reignited tensions within the ruling Zanu PF party, where succession politics have already created fissures.
Madhuku, who leads the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), offered a blunt assessment of the justification being advanced by supporters of the Bill.
“It’s complete nonsense to say that a President has anything called a project,” Madhuku said.
“There is nothing like that. Presidents come into office to govern for the period that they are given. Whatever they want to do, they do it within that given period. If there is anything that remains unfinished, it is not for them to say, ‘I want to finish.’ There will be an election. The next President will decide whether they want to continue with that or not.”
“No one has shown that what is being done is so important that it must continue to be done by the same person. Let’s say you are building a road, your term can simply come to an end and whoever comes in would continue to build that road. These are projects for the country. They are not projects for the President,” he added.
Madhuku argued that term limits are not incidental but are central to promoting accountability and efficiency in governance.
“The argument politically would apply in any country because whoever is in office anywhere in the world will bring certain things. The issue of a term limit is to deal with and promote governance.
“If you are in office and you know you are elected for four years, you must do your things within four years. If you are elected for five years, do your things within five years. If you cannot do your things within five years, that is a sign of incompetence.”
To illustrate his point, Madhuku used a vivid analogy, likening the proposal to a student seeking more time in an examination after failing to complete the paper within the allotted time.
“It’s like a student who is in an exam and they are told that this exam is three hours, and then they say, ‘No, I want to write for five hours because I have not been able to finish.’ In an exam, they have failed.”
Madhuku is no stranger to constitutional battles. He rose to national prominence in 2000 when he led the National Constitutional Assembly alongside the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), then led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai, in campaigning against a proposed constitution advanced by Zanu PF under its late leader Robert Mugabe.
Critics at the time argued that the 2000 draft constitution was designed to entrench one-party rule through sweeping executive powers. It was overwhelmingly rejected in a national referendum.
Zimbabwe now finds itself once again debating the limits of executive authority and the sanctity of constitutional provisions.
Within Zanu PF, the current Bill is widely viewed through the prism of succession politics. Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, widely considered as likely to take over from Mnangagwa, is reportedly among those unsettled by the proposed changes. – NewZimbabwe
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