THE Zanu PF push to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s stay in power by two years has elicited significant internal pushback, with some war veterans and retired generals opposing the proposal.

The former freedom fighters have rejected the plot to bypass a referendum regarding Constitutional Amendment No 3, which was gazetted last month that proposes a raft of changes to the supreme law.

While Zanu PF intends to rely on its two-thirds majority in Parliament and the support of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change led by Sengezo Tshabangu 

to pass the amendments, constitutional law experts and military veterans insist that changes to presidential term limits should be put to a referendum.

In their submissions to Parliament, the former generals and veterans stated that they will not remain silent while the Constitution is altered without public consent.

The group’s letter, signed by Retired Air Marshal Henry Muchena, referenced a 2002 declaration by the late General Vitalis Zvinavashe that national leadership must fit into a “straitjacket of principle”.

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It warned that opportunists and “zvigananda” (money-bags) are attempting to “invert this entirely by bending the nation’s foundational law to serve their own ambitions and protect their own interests”.

“In the year 2002, through the late General Vitalis Zvinavashe, a soldier of immense honour, we as senior commanders made our position clear to the nation. 

“We declared that the leadership of Zimbabwe must fit into a straitjacket of principle,” their submissions read in part.

“Today, we watch with sorrow as zvigananda attempt to invert this entirely by bending the nation’s foundational law to serve their own ambitions and protect their own interests. This is the very corruption of purpose that we warned against.

“It is for precisely this reason that in November 2017, during Operation Restore Legacy, we deferred to the Constitution. That same logic applies today.

“We are aware that some of these characters in the G40, opportunists, zvigananda and johnny-come-lately characters are now at the forefront of usurping the will of the people expressed through their constitution.”

The veterans argued that just as they deferred to the Constitution during Operation Restore Legacy in 2017, the same logic must apply today to protect the will of the people.

The ex-combatants emphasised that while they remained “stockholders” of Zanu PF, the national Constitution is not  party property but belongs to every Zimbabwean.

They called on Parliament to subject the proposed changes to a referendum, asserting that “the will of the majority must be the final word”.

Beyond extending the tenure of the President and Parliament by two years from 2028, the Bill proposes abolishing direct presidential elections and the Zimbabwe Gender Commission.

The government and Zanu PF maintain that there is no need for a referendum, arguing that the right to amend the charter rests solely with Parliament.

Former Zanu PF legal officer Paul Mangwana stated that a referendum is only required if a term is extended by more than three years.

Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda and Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda told NewsDay that Parliament was still in the process of receiving and reviewing various stakeholder submissions.

Said Chokuda: “I have not yet received any suh document on my desk. Perhaps it is still on its way via our normal channels.”

“Listen, this is part of the procedure and we have not reached the stage to analyse the submissions,” Mudenda said when contacted for comment yesterday.

“That’s where we are. We are receiving the submissions. 

“I will have to check with my office on that particular submission.”

In the last two years, Mnangagwa declared several times that he will retire when his time comes in 2028 but last month he presided over a Cabinet meeting that approved the proposed changes

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