KWEKWE – Citizens Coalition for Change party hijacker Sengezo Tshabangu said he was not opposed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa extending his stay in power beyond 2028 at the end of his second and final term.
Tshabangu said this as he and nearly two dozen CCC lawmakers joined a tour of the Zanu PF leader’s Pricabe Farm in Kwekwe organised by parliament.
“If our presence here improves your stay in power, and that makes the people of Zimbabwe happy, then let it be,” Tshabangu said to wild cheers from Zanu PF MPs.
Mnangagwa loyalists used the event to make a new push for the 82-year-old to stay beyond 2028 by wearing caps written ‘Resolution Number 1’ – a reference to a resolution adopted at the party’s annual conference last December urging the party to explore legal avenues to sidestep term limits.
Mnangagwa insists that he is a constitutionalist and has no desire to stay a day longer than the constitution allows.
Tshabangu, introduced as leader of the opposition in parliament, was feted at the event with a seat in the top table. He said he was “so proud to represent the opposition.”
Tshabangu was a relative unknown in late 2023 when, shortly after elections, he declared himself as CCC secretary general, seizing on a lack of defined roles in the party.
He wrote letters to the Speaker of Parliament recalling over a hundred CCC MPs, councillors and senators which were quickly acted upon despite protests by the party. He filled up proportional representation vacancies with his own handpicked individuals and largely failed to field candidates in by-elections for contested seats, allowing Zanu PF to win these and build on its parliamentary majority. He appointed himself a senator for Matabeleland North.
Tshabangu’s legal authority to make the recalls is subject of a pending High Court challenge. The court ordered him, meanwhile, not to make any further recalls until that dispute is settled.
A CCC faction led by Welshman Ncube last week said it had suspended Tshabangu from the party pending a disciplinary hearing after he attempted to change the party’s parliamentary leadership, which a court found violated the court-ordered bar on further recalls.
Tshabangu is desperate to avoid elections in 2028 which would end his brief flirtation with power, and appears ready to back the push by Zanu PF MPs to extend the term of the current parliament to at least 2030. The contentious plan would require a national referendum and amendments to the constitution, according to lawyers.
Some of the opposition lawmakers who attended Mnangagwa’s farm tour are Thokozani Khupe, Bridget Nyandoro, Kucaca Phulu, Susan Matsunga, Nonhlanhla Mlotshwa, Juliana Makuvire, Charles Moyo, Maxwell Mdhluli, Samukeliso Maseko and Otilia Sibanda.
