HARARE – Zimbabwe National Army commander Lieutenant General Walter Asher Tapfumaneyi made a rare public intervention on Thursday, warning against planned protests over constitutional amendments that extended President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term of office and scrapped direct presidential elections.
A video of the army chief’s comments was shared by presidential spokesman George Charamba on X.
Tapfumaneyi joined a chorus of government ministers who have issued warnings to would-be protesters, saying: “Isn’t tomorrow almost upon us? We want people to go to work peacefully, we want the shops to function, we want the borders to function, we want every aspect of Zimbabwean society to function without disruption. And in peace we grow, we grow when there is peace.
“We don’t want silly disruptions by adults who want to make a living out of disorder.”
Army chiefs rarely comment so directly on current affairs, a departure that may signal growing unease within the Zanu PF government over the scale of public anger.
The protests were called by social media activists after parliament passed the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill, which Mnangagwa signed into law on July 7. The new law scraps elections due in 2028, extending Mnangagwa’s term and the current parliament by two years to 2030. Direct presidential elections have been replaced with a vote by the National Assembly and Senate sitting jointly.
Past calls for anti-government protests in Zimbabwe have been met with force by security services.
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches said on July 27 that the passage of the constitutional amendments had not brought “the contestation of the same into finality,” warning that they had deepened polarisation among Zimbabweans in ways that could threaten stability.
The churches and civil society groups say parliament and Mnangagwa bypassed constitutional safeguards requiring a referendum before such changes – and that, even then, a second referendum would be required to allow a sitting incumbent to benefit from the amendments.
