‘We are amending election cycle not term limits’

THE Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill (Number Three) seeks to extend the duration of election cycles and not term limit and doing so does not require a referendum, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, has said.

He said Sections 91 (2) and 328 of the Constitution, which deal with presidential term limits remain intact and any amendment to it would duly require a referendum.

Minister Ziyambi explained that the present Bill only seeks to amend Section 95 of the Constitution and other Clauses to do with election cycles and not term limits and as such no referendum is required.

He said this yesterday at an interactive meeting with the media aimed at unpacking the Bill.

“In this Constitution, terms of office are five years and coterminous with the life of Parliament. The Bill elongates the electoral cycle from five to seven years,” said Minister Ziyambi.

“That’s all it’s doing, to elongate the election cycle from five to seven for everyone, from councillors to the President.

“It’s not specific to a person. It’s the office of the President.”

Section 91(2) reads as follows: “A person is disqualified for election as President or appointment as Vice President if he or she has already held office as President under this Constitution for two terms, whether continuous or not, and for the purpose of this subsection three or more years’ service is deemed to be a full term.”

Minister Ziyambi said in 2007, the Government reduced the presidential election cycle from six to five so as to have it harmonised with parliamentary election cycle and no referendum was held.

He said the present Bill does not relate to Section 328 (7) of the Constitution, which also deals with term limits.

“In essence, we elected to uphold the presidential term limit in its entirety, refraining from any alteration to section 91(2) or any facet of section 328, particularly subsection (7).

“This principled stance underscores our dedication to enduring democratic norms. Those are election cycles and not term limits.

“A full term limit is defined as three or more years. The presidential term limit is still there. We have just elongated the election cycle from five to seven years. It is not specific to a person but to the office of the President,” said Minister Ziyambi.

He said referendums were in respect of Chapter 4 of the Constitution dealing with rights, Chapter 16 on agricultural land issue and term limits.

The minister added that even if they were to extend term limits to three terms, that would not require a referendum, but would simply not benefit the incumbent President.

Minister Ziyambi said the Bill was also anchored on binding judicial wisdom of previously held cases and judgments, which delineates term length provisions such as age limits in section 186 of the Constitution or section 95, which were amenable to changes by two thirds of parliamentary majority.

“This distinction is not merely academic, it is the bedrock of constitutional integrity,” said Minister Ziyambi.

He added that the provision to extend election cycles was also informed by the desire to achieve Vision 2030, which was affected by a two-year Covid-19-induced stagnation.

The minister also said section 95(2), explicitly framed, entailed an election cycle not a term limit — thus debunking fallacious interpretations with unassailable clarity.

“In this light, section 95(2)(b) establishes a standardised duration for the presidency as an enduring institution, ensuring administrative continuity and a rhythmic five-year electoral cadence without imposing cumulative constraints on incumbents.

“This demarcation sharply distinguishes it from authentic term limits, which enforce inflexible caps, with a specific beginning and a determinable end,” he said.

Minister Ziyambi said there had been a deluge of misinformation surrounding the Bill, including “baseless” claims that it necessitates a national referendum as an alleged term-limit provision.

“These assertions are profoundly misguided and demand unequivocal repudiation. The constitutional amendment architecture is lucidly prescribed in section 328.

“Pivotal is section 328(6), which requires a referendum only for Bills altering provisions in Chapter 4 (Declaration of Rights) or Chapter 16 (Agricultural Land).

“Section 328(9) extends this safeguard to section 328 itself, equating it to Chapter 4,” he said.

Turning to the election of the President by Parliament, Minister Ziyambi said this would insulate the office from divisive rancour, while it will galvanise national cohesion and revitalise Zimbabwe’s democratic ethos.

The election of the President by Parliament has become the best international practice as it happens in South Africa, Botswana and even in Western jurisdictions, the perceived doyens of democracy such as Britain, Germany and the United States.

Direct election has been a cause of tension even in most countries judging with recent events in Mozambique and Tanzania, said Minister Ziyambi.

He explained that the main objective of taking up arms was the restoration of people’s rights and land and not universal suffrage of one man one vote, as touted by some quarters.

“We went to war because the coloniser took our land and our rights and we wanted to liberate ourselves from the coloniser so that we can govern and decide how we govern, hence from 1980 to 1990, we never had a direct presidential election,” he said.

“The very authors of one man one vote or of elections, don’t have direct elections. In the United Kingdom, for instance, you vote for MPs (and) the majority party proposes a Prime Minister and the monarchy approves it. In America, they have electoral colleges, (and) in Germany, they have indirect elections.”