War veterans in Masvingo have criticised ZANU PF members who are calling for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term in office to be extended beyond the two-term limit.
The ex-combatants described these efforts as “crazy” and urged Mnangagwa to leave office at the end of his second term in 2028.
Speaking to TellZim News, a war veteran named Western Ezrah from Masvingo condemned the individuals who were “misleading the President” by asking him to violate the constitution. He said:
In 2013, the people of Zimbabwe, whom we liberated through the war of liberation, wrote a constitution.
The same people whom we freed are the ones calling for the breaking of the same constitution they wrote.
Calling for a third term is madness, the constitution is clear and the president should abide by it.So those who are pushing him to continue are really mad.
Ezrah added that ZANU PF had clear guidelines in place and that those individuals pushing for a third term for President Mnangagwa had no real understanding of the party’s origins or its long-term vision. He said:
People do not know where ZANU PF is coming from and if you look closely you will see that those calling for the extension of the term limit have no background of the liberation and the party itself.
The party has a hierarchy and that hierarchy was used since the war of liberation and if you look at the presidium you will see who is supposed to take over.
Even culturally, the elders eat first and because we are a cultured people, the elders lead first in their order.
Another war veteran, Retired Major General Gibson Mashingaidze, told TellZim News that President Mnangagwa should unequivocally follow the Constitution and refrain from seeking a third term in office, as he had previously promised. Said Mashingaidze:
I am a constitutionalist just like the President, I survived a number of processes within ZANU PF because I am a constitutionalist.
So as a constitutionalist, I think the President should follow the Constitution just like he promised. We all heard him saying he will step down when his second term lapsed.
Another war veteran who preferred anonymity said the Constitution is clear on presidential term limits.
He stated that as war veterans, they firmly believe in the peaceful transfer of power and upholding the Constitution.
The veteran added that those pushing for a third term for President Mnangagwa were doing so for their benefit, rather than the greater good of the country.
The calls for a third presidential term were initially started earlier this year by ZANU PF’s Masvingo Province.
Other provinces subsequently adopted this stance, arguing that Mnangagwa should remain in power to ensure the achievement of the party’s 2030 vision.
More recently, on Sunday, August 25, ZANU PF’s Harare Province proposed amendments to the national Constitution during its provincial inter-district conference.
The key resolution that emerged from this meeting was the recommendation that President Mnangagwa should be allowed to continue leading the country beyond 2028 when his second and final term is set to expire.
Furthermore, the Harare inter-district conference also proposed amending the constitutional clause that prohibits any changes that would benefit the incumbent president.
More: Pindula News