Zanu-PF plots to ban parties

A fresh political storm is brewing around President Emmerson Mnangagwa's succession after proposals emerged to abolish political parties and elections in Zimbabwe, raising fears among critics that the changes could create a constitutional pathway for indefinite rule.

The proposals are reportedly being advanced by the camp of self-proclaimed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu, amid growing political manoeuvres over further constitutional amendments.

Tshabangu's camp argues that Zimbabwe's periodic elections have failed to deliver tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary citizens and should ultimately be replaced by a political system focused on social and economic outcomes.

The proposal comes barely weeks after Constitutional Amendment Act No. 3 of 2026 (CAA3) was enacted. The amendment provides for the postponement of elections due in 2028 to 2030 and abolishes direct presidential elections, triggering at least seven legal challenges.

Critics have accused the government of undermining Zimbabwe's constitutional order and weakening citizens' right to directly choose their leaders.

Against that backdrop, political manoeuvres are reportedly gathering pace around Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 4 (CAB4), which is expected to align the country's legal and political framework with changes introduced through CAA3.

At the centre of the emerging debate is Tshabangu's proposal to do away with elections altogether.

Critics fear that Zanu-PF, which controls the executive and holds a parliamentary majority, could work with legislators aligned to Tshabangu to push through further constitutional changes that would extend Mnangagwa's tenure indefinitely.

Tshabangu claims the support of some opposition legislators in both the National Assembly and Senate, making Parliament a potentially important arena for any future constitutional amendments.

In an interview with The Standard, Tshabangu spokesperson Nqobizitha Mlilo questioned the value of periodic elections in Zimbabwe.

"So, the basic propositional question is this: What is the utility of elections in a country like Zimbabwe?" Mlilo said.

He argued that elections should be replaced by a system capable of delivering free quality education, accessible healthcare and full employment.

"There is no benefit in having elections," Mlilo said. "What we need is that the needs of our people must be met."

Tshabangu's camp first raised the possibility of suspending the 2028 elections following the 2023 elections, eventually contributing to the political debate that preceded CAA3.

The latest proposal, however, has alarmed critics — including some within Zanu-PF — who fear that abolishing elections could remove the principal constitutional mechanism through which citizens can change their government.

For sections of the ruling establishment, such an arrangement would also coincide with the increasingly prominent campaign for Mnangagwa to remain in office beyond 2030.

Zanu-PF supporters have been promoting the controversial "2030 agenda", which seeks to keep Mnangagwa in power beyond the end of his current constitutional tenure.

A parallel campaign has also emerged around the "Munhumutapa" concept. Zanu-PF-linked youths are reportedly planning to use Munhumutapa Day on September 15 to promote the continued leadership of Mnangagwa.

Critics have interpreted the campaign as an attempt to elevate the president beyond the conventional electoral contest and portray him as a unifying national figure whose leadership should continue indefinitely.

Some of the more radical political narratives have even portrayed Mnangagwa as a potential king — a position that would remove him from periodic electoral challenges.

Tshabangu's camp has rejected the suggestion that Mnangagwa is seeking to establish a monarchy.

Mlilo said attempts to portray the president as pursuing such a project were politically motivated and intended to discredit efforts aimed at national unity.

"We don't necessarily think that there is any credence in the suggestion that the President is trying to create it in us," he said. "It is factually and politically not true from where we sit."

The convergence of the two political projects — Zanu-PF's campaign to extend Mnangagwa's tenure and Tshabangu's proposal to abolish elections — has nevertheless fuelled speculation about whether opposition legislators aligned to Tshabangu could be used to advance the ruling party's interests.

Mlilo warned political actors against treating the group as unreliable partners.

"We simply insist on our colleagues in Zimbabwe that they must be sincere in these discussions," he said, arguing that agreements reached during previous negotiations over CAA3 had been implemented.

"We simply urge them to continue on that path of sincerity, because that is the only path that can cause that country to remain stable and secure."

Zanu-PF officials, however, have rejected claims that the party is seeking to make Mnangagwa president for life.

Asked whether the party was pushing for Mnangagwa to remain in office indefinitely, Zanu-PF political commissar Munyaradzi Machacha said: "It's not true."

Zanu-PF legal secretary Ziyambi Ziyambi was similarly dismissive of reports that another constitutional amendment was being prepared to entrench changes introduced by CAA3.

"I am not aware," Ziyambi said. "So many times people link me to things I have no knowledge of. It happens that a rumour spreads when you are in the dark."

Mnangagwa has previously described himself as a constitutionalist and said he would step down in 2028.

Opposition politician Job Sikhala, however, argued that the proposed changes had little to do with national development and were instead aimed at protecting political power and access to national resources.

Sikhala accused the Mnangagwa administration of presiding over extensive corruption and the alleged plundering of national resources.

"There has been looting and plundering of our national resources at the scale never witnessed anywhere in the world for the past decade since Mnangagwa took over office," Sikhala said.

He argued that those benefiting from the current political system would have a vested interest in preserving it.

Sikhala also linked the proposed changes to Mnangagwa's experiences in the 2018 and 2023 elections, arguing that his political allies were now seeking an arrangement that would "completely outlaw elections" and preserve what he described as a "perpetual looting regime."

Government and Zanu-PF officials have consistently rejected accusations that the 2030 agenda is intended to create a personal or dynastic state. They maintain that proposed reforms are aimed at promoting political stability, development and national interests.

Political commentator Tendai Reuben Mbofana said the developments should be viewed alongside the growing "Munhumutapa" cultural campaign and the emerging narrative around a "Mnangagwa dynasty".

"The deliberate convergence of the 'Munhumutapa' cultural campaign with the ‘Mnangagwa dynasty' narrative represents a naked strategy to sanitise raw power retention through feudal symbolism," Mbofana said.

He argued that invoking historical kingdoms and dynastic succession could fundamentally alter the basis of political legitimacy in Zimbabwe.

"By wrapping executive authority in the cloak of pre-colonial royal tradition, those pushing this project are trying to alter the fundamental source of political legitimacy in Zimbabwe," he said.

According to Mbofana, the central danger is the replacement of democratic legitimacy with hereditary or quasi-hereditary entitlement.

"The objective is to replace popular mandate with imperial entitlement—not as a public trust subject to democratic renewal, but as a hereditary birthright anchored in divine right and historic entitlement," he said.

The debate therefore goes beyond the question of whether Zimbabwe should hold elections in 2028 or 2030. At stake is the country's broader constitutional settlement — and whether political authority will continue to derive from periodic elections or increasingly from negotiated, parliamentary and extra-electoral arrangements.

For critics, the combination of constitutional amendments, the 2030 campaign, the Munhumutapa narrative and calls to abolish elections represents a potentially profound shift in Zimbabwe's political system.

For the proponents of reform, however, the argument is that Zimbabwe needs a political model that prioritises tangible improvements in citizens' lives over what they regard as an ineffective cycle of elections.

The outcome of that contest could determine not only Mnangagwa's political future, but the future of electoral democracy itself in Zimbabwe.