Zimbabwe’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved a draft constitutional amendment that would allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to remain in office until at least 2030.
Mnangagwa, 83, is currently set to step down in 2028 at the end of his second five-year term.
However, the proposed legislation seeks to amend the constitution by lengthening the presidential term from five years to seven.
The bill also proposes extending the tenure of members of parliament from five to seven years, introducing a system in which the president would be elected by parliament rather than by direct popular vote, and granting the president authority to appoint an additional 10 senators, raising the total number of Senate seats to 90.
Speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing in Harare, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the draft law would be forwarded to the speaker of parliament and published in the official gazette before being tabled for legislative consideration.
Ziyambi said that once the bill was gazetted, a 90-day window would be opened for public consultations.
Parliamentary committees would then compile reports before the proposed amendments are brought forward for formal debate.
At the same briefing, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Jenfan Muswere said the objective behind the legal reform was to reduce election-related disruptions and enhance policy continuity, political stability and the efficiency of state architecture.
Mnangagwa, known by the nickname “the crocodile” because of his political shrewdness, assumed power in 2017 following a military intervention that removed longtime leader Robert Mugabe.
Formerly Mugabe’s deputy and a veteran of the liberation struggle against colonial rule, Mnangagwa secured election victories in 2018 and again in 2023, although opposition candidates challenged the outcomes.
He heads the ruling ZANU-PF party, which has governed Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, and the party has recently faced internal disputes over his eventual successor.
