President Emmerson Mnangagwa presents his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Tuesday and critics cast doubt that he will touch on controversial plans to amend the constitution and extend his term of office from 2028 to 2030
Mnangagwa will also deliver the government’s legislative agenda for the 10 Parliament, a week after Zanu PF directed Justice minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, to initiate legal process to have the President’s term of office extended
Ziyambi, a strong Mnangagwa ally, is also the Zanu PF legal secretary.
Zanu PF adopted the 2030 resolution at the party’s annual conference held in Mutare last week.
Ahead of the conference, a controversial report titled: Breaking Barriers Initiative (BBI), exposed how Zanu PF intended to avoid a referendum to initiate constitutional amendments to extend Mnangagwa’s term of office.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga first exposed the BBI plot during an explosive politburo member.
A week later, Ziyambi confirmed the BBI plot in response to Chiwenga's report against plans to extend Mnangagwa’s term of office.
“This BBI, which is being referred to, is not strange to us, and it's actually promoting nation building and cohesion as compared to the author’s divisive and inciteful document,” he said in his response presented at the party’s politburo meeting.
- Thieves target city boreholes
- A step towards an inclusive Gwanda through disability awareness and sign language training
- Intanga poetry corner: Modern chivalry
- Edutainment Mix: Channelling hobby into passion
Keep Reading
“The BBI is an opposition document which was initially brought to my attention by the leader of the opposition in Parliament, Sengezo Tshabangu, in the company of a General Khumalo from the vice president’s office.
“As a party, we should appreciate the relationship with the opposition, which has been beneficial to us.”
The BBI report said Tshabangu, who has been dismissed as a Zanu PF proxy, will move the motion in Parliament to extend Mnangagwa’s term of office.
Last week, Ziyambi made a surprise u-turn, and issued a statement as Justice minister denying knowledge of the BBI report.
The BBI report provides timelines for the implementation of legislative reforms through Parliament to fast track moves to extend Mnangagwa’s term of office.
As Mnangagwa presents his Sona and the government’s legislative agenda, critics, however, cast doubt that he will touch on the 2030 agenda.
“His handlers have told him to steer away from discussions on the 2030 chicanery until the constitution is changed,” analyst Jealous Mawarire told The Standard.
“After the changes have been effected, he will come and claim to be a constitutionalist and claim to abide by the changed constitution.
“So in his Sona, I can safely tell you he will stay away from the controversial moves to change the constitution and extend his stay in office to 2030, and possibly 2035.”
Another political analyst Reason Wafawarova said the 2030 agenda has brought with it new headaches for Zanu PF, indicating that it has united opposition forces against the ruling party.
“Ironically, Resolution Number One — designed to consolidate Mnangagwa’s hold on power — has begun to backfire,” Wafawarova said.
“It has reawakened the opposition, revitalised civic outrage, and reignited public discourse around constitutionalism.
“The opposition, which had sunk into disarray and despair after Nelson Chamisa’s exit, has found a new rallying point — the defence of the Constitution itself.
“For the first time in years, citizens across political divides share a unifying grievance: disgust at the attempt to bury democracy alive.”
On Tuesday, the Sapes Trust will host a highly anticipated discussion titled “The constitutional crossroads.”
The panel bring together politicians and human rights activists such as Job Sikhala, Tendai Biti, Jameson Timba, Jacob Ngarivhume, Munyaradzi Gwisayi, and Obert Masaraure,
“It represents a convergence of voices once fragmented, now uniting around a shared anger that is not partisan but patriotic,” Wafawarova said.
“There’s a growing sense that Mnangagwa’s greed has revived what repression had killed — the spirit of collective defiance.
“What the president does not realise is that he may have just created his own opposition — not in party form, but as a movement of anger.”
Zanu PF first passed the resolution to extend Mnangagwa’s stay in office until 2030 at its conference held in Bulawayo last year.
There were no tangible moves to change the constitution to facilitate the term extension and the resolution was resurrected at the Mutare conference held in Mutare last year.
“The party and government are therefore directed to initiate the requisite legislative amendments to give full effect to this resolution to ensure continuity, stability and the sustained transformation of the nation,” Ziyambi Ziyambi, Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs and Minister of Justice, told delegates at the conference.
Mnangagwa told the same conference that every Zanu PF member was bound by the resolutions of the party in what appeared to be a reference to Chiwenga who is against agenda 2030.
The VP had told the conference that leaders “are not the alpha and omega of Zimbabwe’s journey” in what observers said was a warning to his peers against perpetuating a life presidency.
Chiwenga has accused those behind the 2030 agenda of trying to hijack the ruling party using dirty money.
Businessman Kudakwashe, whom the VP accuses of using money to capture Zanu PF, is said to be Mnangagwa’s preferred successor.
