By Tichaona Katsvamutima
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will not express a view on Zimbabwe’s controversial constitutional changes extending President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s tenure to 2030, saying the matter remains a domestic issue and has not developed into a regional crisis.
South African presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya made the remarks on the sidelines of the 46th Ordinary SADC Summit in Durban, where South Africa assumed the chairmanship of the regional bloc.
Magwenya was responding to questions from journalists on whether SADC would express a view on Zimbabwe’s decision to amend its Constitution and effectively postpone the next presidential election from 2028 to 2030.
He said Zimbabwe’s constitutional changes had been processed through the country’s domestic legal framework.
“You have to look at how that process unfolded. It’s a process that has followed various domestic legal steps. Obviously, a process of that nature will draw some criticism. There will be others that express grievance against it,” Magwenya said.
“But is it not really for SADC to comment on those domestic processes for as long as those processes have been carried out within domestic legal frameworks, which is what happened in Zimbabwe. So it’s not something that SADC will express a view on because it hasn’t constituted a crisis that the region has to grapple with.”
His comments effectively signal that Pretoria, in its capacity as the new SADC chair, is treating the controversy surrounding Mnangagwa’s extended tenure as an internal Zimbabwean constitutional and political matter rather than an issue warranting regional intervention.
The 46th SADC Summit was held in Durban on August 17 under South Africa’s chairmanship.
The position is likely to disappoint Zimbabwean opposition parties, civil society groups and other critics who have urged regional and international bodies to scrutinise the constitutional changes, arguing that they weaken direct electoral accountability and could entrench the ruling Zanu PF establishment.
President Mnangagwa signed the legislation into law on July 7, bringing into effect far-reaching changes to the country’s electoral and governance framework.
Among the most significant changes is the extension of the presidential and parliamentary electoral cycle from five years to seven years. The amendment effectively moves the next general election from 2028 to 2030, allowing Mnangagwa to remain in office for two additional years.
The amendment also abolished the direct election of the President by voters and introduced a system under which the President is elected by a joint sitting of the Senate and National Assembly.
Under the new arrangement, Parliament becomes the electoral college for the presidency, with a candidate required to secure more than half of the valid votes cast by members of Parliament. If no candidate obtains a majority, a run-off is held between the two candidates who receive the highest number of votes.
The changes have triggered intense political and legal controversy in Zimbabwe, with critics arguing that extending the electoral cycle and changing the method of electing the President fundamentally alters the country’s democratic system.
