Dominate by hook or crook at all costs is the only rule Zanu PF thugs live by. Laws are sticks with which to hit opponents. W Mukori

 ZANU-PF is moving, with deliberate intent, to revert to the old Smith-era constitutional order and in the process discard the National Constitution of 2013 entirely.

 

16 July 2026

By Akson Potera

While the Zanu-PF has already pushed through forced and, in our view, unlawful amendments to the Constitution, its ambition extends far beyond Constitution Amendment Bill No. 3. The broader strategy is what is commonly described as “salami slicing”: dismantling the 2013 Constitution in small, incremental portions so that each change appears technical and isolated, while the cumulative effect is a fundamental overhaul. This was the grand plan that was frustrated for nearly two decades by Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. Regrettably, the current opposition has made its execution far easier. 

As ZANU-PF proceeded through CAB 1, CAB 2 and now CAB 3, the country was largely in a state of complacency, oblivious to the larger objective being pursued. The party is now testing the limits of autocratic legalism, using Parliament itself as the instrument to return to the old order. Having succeeded in amending provisions that constitutionally require a referendum, and doing so without one, the path is now open for it to target Chapter 4 on the Declaration of Rights and Chapter 16 on Agricultural Land, both of which are expressly protected and require popular approval. 

Once those two chapters are breached, the remaining provisions of the Constitution will fall with little resistance. Section 328 and all its attendant safeguards will be systematically hollowed out while the nation watches. 

The most troubling dimension of this assault is that the main opposition, once vibrant under Tsvangirai, has now become complicit in the erosion of our democratic Constitution. In the absence of any meaningful resistance from opposition leadership, ZANU-PF is advancing unopposed. 

It is high time Zimbabweans discarded the illusion of a pro-ZANU-PF opposition and begin to organise in defence of their rights, confronting these destructive political manoeuvres directly. 

The now comprised Zanu-PF must be stopped ✋️ on its way to illegally replace our constitution with theirs.”

The only law these Zanu PF thugs know and live by is dominate at all cost at every opportunity. Where as a rational person would view constitutions and rule of law as the foundation for order, stability and justice. These Zanu PF thugs laws as sticks with which to hit their opponents with and to be discarded when it suits them. 

Mnangagwa and his cronies insisted the 2024 Zanu PF annual gathering was a Conference and not a Congress and so there will be no succession issues. Guess what? They pushed through their ED 2030 Agenda, that Mnangagwa should stay in power beyond 2028. ED2030 was passed as the Conference Resolution No. 1! The same dirty trick was repeated the following year. 

Of course, ED2030 Agenda which morphed into the CAB3 is a succession issue! Now that parliament has passed CAB3 clearing the way for Mnangagwa to stay in office until 2030 it is obvious Zanu PF Congress scheduled for 2027 will endorse Mnangagwa as the first secretary of the party and thus State President. The next Congress will be 2029 to elect the successor beyond 2030. 

Mugabe played the same dirty trick on Mnangagwa in 2004 to make sure Joyce Mujuru was elected VP instead. 

As these Zanu PF thugs tamper with the party constitution to cheat each other, they consider themselves special, the ones with the divine right to rule Zimbabwe, of course they will blatantly violate the national constitution if it threatens the party’s iron grip on power. Many of us thought there are sacred clauses in the constitution protected by referendums; Zanu PF bamboozled and forced CAB3 with not even one referendum - proof Zanu PF will get whatever it wants! 

If we are ever going to have a functional democratic Zimbabwe then we must bite the bullet and carry out a complete overhaul of our political system - throw the weak and feeble 2013 Constitution in the bin and start afresh.