𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝟮𝟬𝟯𝟬 𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗦𝗨𝗖𝗖𝗘𝗘𝗗.

President Mnangagwa seeking a term extension

1. According to the wording of section 328(1), a Constitutional Bill can only seek the extension of a term limit for “a” person, implying that a Bill can only seek extension for one person’s term at a time.

2. This means that Constitutional Amendment Bill 3, which seeks to extend the term limits of both the President and Parliament, is voidable and should be redrafted into two separate bills: one for the President’s term and another for Parliament’s.

Both Bills cannot be presented to Parliament simultaneously, as the second must wait for the first to be considered and finalised before another Bill is presented.

3. The Bill is asking for a change to the term limits of the President and Parliament, but hoping that the current President and Parliament will both enjoy the extensions in this current term.

4. According to the constitution in 328(7), an incumbent or current sitting official cannot benefit from a term‑limit extension enacted during their term.

5. So, ZANU PF will additionally need to present two separate Bills to change section 328 of constitution to allow incumbents to enjoy term changes in the same term they change them.

This makes four, the total number of Bills that need to be presented for these constitutional changes and all four will need to go for referendum to pass for President Mnangagwa to get to 2030. This will take at least three to four years to achieve, notwithstanding legal challenges.