HARARE, Zimbabwe
Catholic bishops in Zimbabwe have warned President Emmerson Mnangagwa that the debate over a campaign to extend his term in office is plunging the country into deeper economic and political problems.
In a scathing pastoral letter,
the influential Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) said the southern
African country was “doomed” if the government failed to arrest rampant
corruption and stopped talk about extending the President’s term of office.
President Mnangagwa’s ruling
Zanu PF last year passed a resolution to extend his term by two years, beyond
2028, when it expires.
The 82-year-old ruler has
repeatedly said he does not want to extend his rule beyond the two five
year-terms set in the Constitution, but his loyalists continue to publicly
campaign for him to hang on to power.
A faction linked to his deputy
Constantino Chiwenga, who led the coup that toppled long-time strongman Robert
Mugabe nearly eight years ago, is said to be strongly opposed to the term
extension.
Former fighters in Zimbabwe’s
liberation war have also been calling for President Mnangagwa to step down
because of alleged incompetence, nepotism and failure to rein in corrupt
elements in his government.
The bishops said rising
poverty in the country was “not accidental” but a result of poor management of
the country’s resources.“We are all worried about the situation in the
country,” the bishops said.
“Politically, instead of focusing on bread-and-butter issues we are caught in distractions such as the third term conversations, something that has brought with it divisions and unnecessary diversions from the things that do matter.”
They said that businesses are
closing and many people are losing their jobs, and the few who are still lucky
to be working are burdened under the regime of taxes.
Zimbabwe’s economy has
struggled for more than two decades, with hyperinflation and currency collapses
now commonplace.
One of the promises President
Mnangagwa made when he took office in 2017 was that he would turn around the
economy by ending corruption and creating jobs, a pledge his critics say he has
failed to fulfil.
The bishops said corruption
had become a stumbling block to Zimbabwe’s path to economic progress.
“Corruption is rampant and
seems to be out of control,” ZCBC’s pastoral letter said.
Last month, the Zimbabwe Heads
of Christian Denominations said President Mnangagwa must resist the lure to
stay beyond the end of his term, lest he become “a co-conspirator in
overthrowing the country’s Constitution.”
Critics say removing
presidential term limits to allow him to rule beyond 2028 could prove to be a
mammoth task for the ruling party, as the constitutional amendments must be
approved by a two-thirds parliamentary majority and two separate referendums.
Zimbabwe first held a
referendum on the Constitution in 2000, where a draft supreme law crafted by
Mugabe’s regime was overwhelmingly rejected after an opposition campaign
against it.
The new Constitution that
introduced two five-year terms for the President was approved in 2013 during
the tenure of an inclusive government formed by Zanu PF and the opposition.
In 2021, President Mnangagwa’s
government introduced 27 amendments to the Constitution, which have been
described as a significant shift towards “authoritarian consolidation and
democratic erosion.”
Political analysts say the
push for presidential term extension is a way of managing the head of State’s
succession, in which the military is expected to play a major role, as it did
in the case with the late Mugabe, which culminated in a coup.
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