ED's Obsession With Pursuing A Third Term Will Be His Undoing - Mutebuka
Political commentator Brighton Mutebuka says President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s alleged quest to push for a constitutional amendment to remove the presidential term limit will result in his overthrow by a ZANU PF faction opposed to the plan.
Mnangagwa won his second and final term in the 23 August 2023 elections, and only an amendment of the constitution will allow him to run for another term in 2028 and beyond.
Posting on X, Mutebuka argued that the ongoing recalls of CCC MPs by Sengezo Tshabangu are aimed at reducing the number of opposition legislators to give ZANU PF a two-thirds majority which will result in constitutional amendments. He wrote:
The Tshabangu Saga Continues – Vindication of EUOM & SEOM Reports & The Beginning Of The End For ED!
1. It’s now clear that the strategy involved luring @CCCZimbabwe into fielding the same recalled candidates & then barring them on a technicality prior to the by-election date to leave ZANU PF candidates uncontested.
2. ED & his regime are clearly oblivious to the fact that the more these shenanigans continue the more they vindicate that the findings of the Electoral Observer Mission Reports were unimpeachable.
3. This makes the case for intervention much more compelling, not less.
4. This behaviour suggests utter contempt for the will of the people & total control of all state institutions, with the appointment of CDF Sibanda to the Politburo (now reversed), saving to confirm that as well.
5. For a man in his 80s, ED has staked a lot on these recalls & in trying to obtain a two-thirds majority in Parliament illegally. More importantly, this opens a second front for ED by provoking a faction in his party which will now accelerate secretly working against him in earnest!
6. An objective assessment of the situation would seem to indicate that, this amounts to political overreaching. His blind ambition is too far-fetched and ignores political realities/fundamentals.
7. Chiwenga’s political ambitions are not a secret. He has clearly gone out of his way to project himself as a loyal deputy, just like ED tried to do during Bob’s last days.
8. He will feel morally entitled to succeed ED given what he believes to have been the huge sacrifices he made by being the coup’s ultimate guarantor by personally putting his neck on the guillotine.
9. Unlike the opposition, he has enduring ties in the military and is capable of leaning on them to stir things up should it come to that or to frustrate ED’s inevitable play at amending the Constitution for a tilt at a 3rd term.
10. Lessons drawn from history suggest that neither ED nor state court jesters egging him on are likely to fully appreciate the true scale of the obstacles that are standing in his way. At the moment, they are caught up in a bubble & believe that they are unstoppable! It’s that illusion that will be their greatest undoing! That is how the beginning of the end starts – by pursuing unrealistic goals!
Responding to a follower who had asked why CCC leader Nelson Chamisa took a great risk by fielding recalled MPs using the name CCC, Mutebuka said:
This is not about law but about politics. It’s beyond argument that Chamisa is the leader of CCC. Tshabangu is using ED’s borrowed robes and has even borrowed ED’s Lawyer if that needed spelling out to you. It’s that obsession with pursuing a 3rd term which will be his undoing!
Meanwhile, Tshabangu’s lawyer Advocate Lewis Uriri on Monday confirmed that they were filing an urgent High Court application seeking to bar recalled CCC legislators and councillors who successfully filed their nomination papers to contest in the 09 December by-elections.
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