The extension of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term has opened a new front for international actors, who are now urging the West to impose sanctions against the Zanu PF leader for a ‘dangerous’ power grab.
In July, Mnangagwa signed constitutional amendments that extended his term by at least two years and abolishing the system of direct presidential elections.
The Constitutional Amendment Act Number 3 (CAA3) passed through without a referendum, and opposition leaders have condemned the measures as a ‘constitutional coup.’
The government has foiled planned protests against CAA3, while opposition and civic society leaders have complained of being put under surveillance by state security agents.
Mnangagwa’s term of office was initially expected to end in 2028, before the controversial constitutional amendments.
Mnangagwa’s loyalists are now pushing for further amendments to extend his term of office from 2028 to 2037, in a development that has alarmed not only his opponents but also insiders in Zanu-PF.
A visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Washington in the United States, Alexander Noyes, said the United States Congress must threaten Mnangagwa with the imposition of sanctions for his ‘dangerous power grab.’
“A dangerous power grab by Zimbabwe’s sitting president is underway,’ Noyes wrote in a recent article in the Journal of Democracy, the world’s leading publication on the theory and practice of democracy.
Since its first appearance in 1990, the journal has engaged both activists and intellectuals in critical discussions regarding the problems of, and prospects for, democracy around the world.
Today, the journal is at the centre of the debate on the major social, political, and cultural challenges that confront emerging and established democracies alike.
“Because the United States under the Trump administration abruptly abandoned the decades-long, bipartisan consensus on global democracy promotion, Europe and the United Kingdom, in particular, will need to rally Western democracies and threaten the reimposition of the targeted sanctions that were lifted after Mugabe’s fall,’ he argued.
“Supporters of Zimbabwe’s democracy in the US Congress must also apply pressure, tighten existing sanctions, and encourage allies to do the same’.
He argued in the Journal of Democracy that the combination of domestic protests, divided military loyalties, and coordinated external pressure could force Mnangagwa to reverse course or, at least, agree to a referendum.
The international sanctions landscape has shifted significantly in recent months.
In February 2026, the European Council renewed its arms embargo on Zimbabwe until 20 February 2027, while lifting all travel bans and asset freezes. The EU’s restrictive framework now consists solely of an arms embargo.
Meanwhile, the United States, under the Joe Biden administration, terminated the 21-year-old Zimbabwe sanctions programme in March 2024, replacing it with targeted Global Magnitsky sanctions on Mnangagwa and 10 other individuals for corruption and serious human rights abuses.
However, the Donald Trump administration's return to power has introduced new complications, including an 18% reciprocal tariff on the country’s goods imposed in June 2026.
Noyes cautioned that the military in Zimbabwe remains the ‘ultimate arbiter of power.’
African leaders, supported by the international community, should step up pressure on Mnangagwa, Noyes argued.
“Regional and international actors dropped the ball on their response to Zimbabwe’s 2017 military coup,’ Noyes wrote.
“After decades of Mugabe’s misrule and toxic outside relations, they nearly unanimously refused to call the coup a coup, and did not sanction the coupmakers or push for a transitional government.”
The CAA3 is being challenged in the Constitutional Court.
Mnangagwa once publicly claimed that he is a constitutionalist and would persuade Zanu-PF members to stop the political campaign to have his term of office extended to 2030.
Mnangagwa later said the 2030 agenda was a collective decision of the party.
Observers have linked the constitutional amendments to a wider succession battle within Zanu-PF to stop Mnangagwa’s deputy, Constantino Chiwenga, from succeeding him.