MDC president Douglas Mwonzora has accused the Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) and its Members of Parliament of assenting to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s alleged plans to run for a third presidential term or seek an extension of his current one.
Addressing reporters in Bulawayo, Mwonzora dismissed Mnangagwa’s recent assertion that he will not seek a third term and will retire at the end of his second and final term in 2028.
Mwonzora alleged that the CCC lawmakers have tacitly approved Mnangagwa’s purported plans to remain in power beyond the constitutionally mandated two-term limit. Said Mwonzora (via CITE):
The president’s party ZANU PF is talking about his presidential term ending in 2030. We know they want to extend the term of office by another term but their ZANU PF lawyers are aware that extending a term may be difficult so they want to extend the presidential term to say it is not five years but now seven years.
Most of their leaders are in agreement. This is selling out Zimbabwe’s constitution, and the people and is selfish because these MPs want to stay in Parliament for as long as possible.
Others have left their political parties to form another party, abandon it, form another one and the people who are running this project are former officers from the Border Gezi masquerading as the opposition. They are busy taking the opposition for the ride.
Mwonzora substantiated his claims that CCC is heavily compromised by citing circumstantial evidence.He said:
There is a legal phrase res ipsa loquitur meaning facts speak for themselves. Don’t you see they are compromised? Don’t you see they have a given Emmerson Mnangagwa two-thirds majority?
Don’t you see the leader of the CCC was quiet when the recalls were done? Right now CCC in Parliament have not spoken against the third term, I dare them to speak against the third term.
Mwonzora acknowledged that during his tenure as the leader of the opposition in Parliament, he would occasionally meet with Mnangagwa and “never made a secret of it”, in contrast to the CCC leaders who have reportedly been hosted at lavish banquets at State House. He said:
I would go to meet him as leader of the opposition but never, never did President Mnangagwa or his wife throw a party for me.
President Mnangagwa’s wife threw a party for the CCC MPs in the State House. What more evidence do we require?
Our brothers and sisters have been compromised and are supporting the third term, supporting the extension of the term of President Mnangagwa.
They have not spoken against a third term, they have actually agreed that Mnangagwa must extend his term. Let them come out and deny it. They have not denounced it.
However, Mwonzora’s allegations against the CCC appear to be a case of the pot calling the kettle black, as he himself previously supported a constitutional amendment while he was the leader of the opposition in Parliament.
In 2021, Mwonzora defended MDC lawmakers for joining ZANU PF MPs in supporting a constitutional amendment that removed the requirement for a presidential running mate, extended the women’s quota, and removed the 70-year retirement age cap for judges.
More: Pindula News