Eddie Cross warns ZANU-PF constitutional changes backfire

Constitutional changes getting rammed through parliament without a referendum could backfire badly on ZANU-PF, according to economist Eddie Cross.

Amendment Bill shakes up term limits

• The Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill, 2026 got gazetted on February 16.
• Presidential and parliamentary terms would jump from five to seven years.
• Local authority terms get the same proposed extension.
• Voter-roll management would shift from ZEC to the Registrar-General.

Cross says Mnangagwa is overreaching

• Eddie Cross warned that President Emmerson Mnangagwa would stay in power until 2030.
• Mnangagwa would be close to 90 by then.
• Cross called it the most substantial amendment since 2013.
• Forcing it through parliament without a referendum breaks constitutional rules.

Power consolidation could seal their fate

• Cross thinks this is a ploy to block leadership change internally.
• He referenced the 2009 Government of National Unity as real progress.
• ZANU-PF would lose any properly supervised, free-and-fair election.
• Zimbabwe is more than ready for genuine political change.