HARARE – The National Assembly is expected on Tuesday to approve amendments to a constitutional amendment bill which will allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stay in office until 2030 by extending presidential terms from five to seven years.

The Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill (No.3) cleared the National Assembly with 216 votes to 42 on June 18 before the Senate passed it with amendments by 75 votes to four.

Mnangagwa summoned MPs for the extraordinary sitting on Tuesday, a week earlier than they had been scheduled to reconvene. Debate on the amendments will commence at 2.15PM.

If the National Assembly adopts the Senate’s changes without further amendment, the bill goes directly to Mnangagwa for assent, even as pressure has been growing on him not to sign the bill into law.

The bill, which also includes a provision for the president to be elected by parliament rather than by direct popular vote, will become law when Mnangagwa signs it.

The Senate’s amendments, introduced last week by justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, were largely procedural rather than substantive. They include new clauses requiring the first sitting of a newly elected parliament to take place within 14 days of the declaration of election results, on a date set by the clerk of parliament through a government gazette, with the clerk presiding over both houses until the Speaker of the National Assembly is elected.

The Senate also refined provisions on presidential succession. Under the changes, where a sitting president dies, resigns or is removed from office, the vice president last designated to act under section 100 of the constitution would serve as acting president for up to 30 days while parliament elects a successor.

Ziyambi told the Senate the changes corrected what he called “a vacuum” in the bill’s earlier drafting, and proposed deleting section 101(3) of the constitution – which deals with automatic assumption of office by a vice president – describing it as “a cleaning exercise” overtaken by Constitutional Amendment No. 2, which had already removed automatic succession in 2021.

Other amendments specify that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would conduct any parliamentary election of a president in accordance with the Electoral Act and parliament’s standing rules, and clarify the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission’s mandate under section 243 to recommend measures to parliament and the executive on human rights, national healing, reconciliation and nation-building.

The government backed down on two clauses that would have abolished the Gender Commission and allowed traditional leaders to dabble in politics.

Evidence that Mnangagwa, 83, wanted to stay in power beyond the end of his second term in 2028 emerged about two years ago, when his supporters started chanting slogans at Zanu PF rallies that he needed more time to complete his agenda. The ruling party last year resolved to change the constitution to prolong presidential terms, and the plan received cabinet backing in February.

Mnangagwa came to power after a 2017 military coup ousted longtime leader Robert Mugabe, who had been in power since independence in 1980.

Critics say the bill is a ruse for Mnangagwa to stay in power for longer, though its backers say it will strengthen accountability and foster political stability.