Why all those finding life hard in Zimbabwe should resist CAB3

There are life-and-death issues that should never be treated as a game.

As the notorious Constitutional Amendment (No. 3) Bill, or CAB3, nears its inevitable tabling in Parliament, the clock is ticking for every Zimbabwean to find their voice. 

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This is not a drill, nor is it merely another chapter in our complex political history; it is a decisive moment where time is fast running out to boldly and loudly reject an overt attempt to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa's stay in office. 

We must see this amendment for what it truly is: a self-serving maneuver designed to protect the interests of a tiny, predatory elite at the expense of a suffering majority. 

For those currently enriching themselves by looting national resources, CAB3 is a golden ticket to prolong their plunder. 

For the rest of the nation, it is a sentence to further misery.

The tragedy of our current discourse is that constitutional amendments are often treated as a blind political game. 

We see ZANU-PF supporters holding placards and singing praises for term extensions as if "winning" over political opponents provides some tangible benefit to their own lives. 

This is a profound and self-defeating exercise in irony. 

The person singing the loudest for CAB3 today is often the same person struggling to buy a loaf of bread or pay their child's school fees. 

Poverty does not ask for your party card before it strikes. 

When the amendment passes, the elite will celebrate in their mansions, while the rank-and-file supporter will return to the same crushing reality as every other Zimbabwean. 

Every citizen finding life difficult must realize that saying "YES" to these amendments is saying "YES" to their own continued impoverishment.

To understand why we must resist, we need only look at the trail of broken promises left by the Second Republic since 2017. 

Before this era began, civil servants lived in relative dignity. 

A decade ago, a teacher or a nurse could earn upwards of US$540 per month-a salary that allowed them to take care of their families without sinking into a swamp of debt. 

Today, civil servants are taking home paltry sums as low as US$190-less than half of what they used to earn.

This desperation has birthed the "Teachers for ED" or "Nurses for ED" phenomenon, where professionals are reduced to forming "voluntary" organizations in the hope of receiving handouts for so-called "income-generating projects." 

It is a humiliating fall from grace. 

Similarly, our pensioners, who once received a modest but stable US$100 from NSSA, now grapple with a measly US$50. 

The Second Republic has effectively stripped the dignity from those who built this nation and those who keep its heart beating today.

The daily cost of living has become an insurmountable mountain, largely driven by fuel costs that rank Zimbabwe as the second most expensive on the African continent. 

This isn't an accident of global markets; it is a direct result of state-sanctioned profiteering. 

The ruling elite and their associates benefit from mandatory ethanol blending and middleman fees, cushioned by a plethora of taxes and levies that bleed the consumer dry. 

These tenderpreneurs have hijacked the fuel procurement process, acting as parasitic intermediaries who buy fuel from international suppliers only to resell it to the state at massive, inflated markups. 

By controlling access to the Beira-Harare pipeline and exploiting preferential foreign currency allocations, they create artificial bottlenecks that drive prices to the second-highest on the continent.

This is a system of state-sanctioned racketeering where every liter of fuel pumped at the station includes a "corruption tax" that funnels national wealth into the pockets of a connected few while the rest of the nation sinks into poverty.

This artificial inflation of fuel prices doesn't just hurt motorists; it triggers a domino effect that sends the price of bread, transport, and every basic commodity skyrocketing, effectively taxing the very breath of the poor to fund the lifestyles of the few.

While the government boasts of the "fastest-growing economy in the region," the statistics tell a darker story. 

In 2017, the national poverty rate stood at 70.5%, with extreme poverty at 30%. 

By early 2025, World Bank projections showed a catastrophic surge: general poverty reached roughly 85%, while extreme poverty climbed to 49.2%. 

This means that since the Second Republic came to power, poverty in Zimbabwe has actually increased. 

In other words, more Zimbabweans are finding it difficult to feed their families today than in 2017. 

Today, more families are struggling to keep their children in school than nine years ago. 

Despite the 7% growth figures touted in air-conditioned offices, more Zimbabweans are hungry today than they were nine years ago.

The human cost of this "growth" is visible in our collapsing healthcare system. 

Our public hospitals have become death traps where cancer radiotherapy units are perpetually broken and neonatal mortality rates are rising. 

It is a chilling reality that a Zimbabwean seeking medical help in 2026 is often in more danger than they were in 2017. 

While our mothers die for lack of basic medication, we see the missing wealth elsewhere. 

This is the wealth that should be constructing new, well-furnished schools-fully equipped with modern libraries and science laboratories-across our rural areas where children currently learn in dilapidated structures. 

This is the money that should be funding the construction of high-quality, durable road networks throughout both urban and rural Zimbabwe, rather than the death traps we currently navigate. 

Instead of building a future for the next generation, this national treasure is diverted into the private accounts of a handful of connected individuals while millions of Zimbabweans are left to languish in infrastructure that is crumbling before their eyes. 

It is this systematic siphoning of public funds that keeps Zimbabwe anchored at the bottom of global transparency rankings, consistently scoring a dismal 22 out of 100 on the corruption index.

We see it in the luxury cars and the cash doled out like confetti by the Zvigananda-the nouveau riche tenderpreneurs. 

We see it in the private jets, the helicopters, and the sprawling mansions funded by the very money that should have been building well-equipped rural schools and safe roads. 

This is our money, siphoned into foreign bank accounts while we are told to be patient.

This global reputation for entrenched corruption is the ultimate indictment of those pushing for CAB3.

They speak of "development," yet their version of development is a farce. 

Constructing a single traffic interchange at an inflated cost that could have funded three is not development; it is brazen theft. 

A US$1.8 million single-lane bridge is not an achievement; it is state-sanctioned plunder. 

Drilling a "presidential  borehole" for US$16,000 is not service delivery; it is economic sabotage. 

These are the "achievements" of a system that now asks for more time.

Why should we give them more time? 

More time to do what, exactly? 

More time to loot while we sink deeper into the abyss? 

More time to expect us to celebrate our own destruction? 

The push for CAB3 is not a political party issue-it is a survival issue. 

If this Bill passes, we all lose. 

The only winners will be the handful of individuals who have made the last nine years a living hell for the majority. 

They want two more years to finish what they started, which is the total liquidation of the Zimbabwean dream. 

We must stand together, across all divides, and offer a resounding "NO." 

Resistance to CAB3 is not just an act of political defiance; it is a necessary act of self-preservation for every Zimbabwean who believes they deserve a life of dignity.

© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. To directly receive his articles please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08