HARARE — A retired Air Force general has mounted a dramatic intervention in Zimbabwe’s constitutional reform debate, warning that proposed amendments could betray the very ideals Zimbabweans fought for during the liberation struggle.
In a lengthy submission to parliament dated March 12, Air Marshal (Rtd) Henry Muchena said he was representing “retired generals and senior civil servants who are ex-combatants” that he did not name.
The proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 threatens the principle that power belongs to the people, he wrote.
Muchena made the submission on behalf of the group after parliament opened a 90-day public consultation process on the bill.
“We write to you today not as rebels, not as dissenters, and not as enemies of the party (Zanu PF) to which we have given our entire lives,” the former commanders said. “We speak as men who were present when this nation was being born in blood and fire.”
The ex-combatants said the liberation war had been fought on the promise that Zimbabweans would one day govern themselves through universal suffrage.
They recalled the ideological slogans that guided the struggle in the late 1970s – Gore reMusangano (1977), Gore reVanhu (1978), and Gore reMasimba Evanhu (1980) – which they said affirmed that sovereignty rested with the masses.
“These were not mere slogans,” they wrote. “They were the covenant we made with every Zimbabwean living and dead that sovereignty would rest with the masses, not with the privileged few.”
The group argued that the proposed constitutional amendments risk concentrating power in the hands of a small elite, likening the situation to the colonial-era restrictions on political participation.
“Are we now reversing everything we bled for through these amendments?” they asked. “Are we returning to the era of Ian Smith, when only a privileged elite – the Zvigananda as we called them – had the right to participate in governance?”
They said the liberation struggle rested on two fundamental pillars: land and universal adult suffrage – “one man, one vote.”
“These were not negotiable then, and they must not be negotiable now,” the submission said.
The retired commanders also invoked a 2002 declaration by then Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe, who insisted that the country’s leadership must adhere to the principles of the liberation struggle.
“We declared that the leadership of Zimbabwe must fit into a straitjacket of principle,” the submission states. “The party does not reshape itself around the appetites of its leaders. Leaders reshape themselves around the values of the party and the will of the people.”
The group argued that any attempt to amend the constitution without direct public approval would undermine democratic legitimacy.
They pointed to the year 2000 constitutional referendum when voters rejected a government-backed draft and said the ruling party had respected the result.
“In 2000 parliament did what was true and correct by referring constitutional proposals to the people through a referendum,” they said. “The people rejected our proposal, and we accepted the outcome.”
They also cited the adoption of the current constitution in 2013, which followed years of consultations during the Government of National Unity.
If the proposed amendments are truly in the national interest, they said, they should be put to the people again.
“Call a referendum,” the group urged. “Let the same Zimbabweans who gave us that constitution speak again.”
Despite their criticism, the former commanders emphasised their loyalty to the ruling Zanu PF party.
“We are Zanu PF. We have always been ZANU-PF. We will die Zanu PF,” they wrote, describing themselves as “stockholders” in the party forged through their sacrifices during the liberation war.
However, they stressed that the national constitution belongs to all Zimbabweans, not just the ruling party.
“Democracy does not permit one party, however powerful, to reshape the nation’s foundational law without the express consent of the people,” the submission said.
The group also warned that altering the constitution without broad public participation would dishonour fallen comrades who died believing they were fighting for a democratic Zimbabwe.
“We looked them in the eye and told them that their sacrifice would not be in vain,” they wrote. “Many of those comrades never came home. They died with our promise in their ears.”
The submission concluded with a call for parliament to submit the proposed constitutional amendments to a national referendum.
“Anything less is not a constitutional amendment,” the former commanders said. “It is a betrayal not of us, but of every Zimbabwean who ever dared to hope for a better country.”
One of the most significant proposed amendments is the repeal of Section 92 of the constitution to allow the president to be elected by a joint sitting of parliament instead of through a direct popular vote.
Members of the National Assembly and Senate would elect the president by majority vote following general elections or whenever a vacancy arises.
The bill also seeks to extend the term of office for both the president and parliament from five years to seven years, a move which could allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa – currently serving his second and final term under existing constitutional limits – to remain in office for an additional two years, from 2028 to 2030.
The draft amendments also significantly alter presidential succession rules, potentially reshaping internal political dynamics within the ruling party.
Instead of a vice president automatically assuming office following a vacancy, the bill proposes that parliament elect a new president within a specified period after the death, resignation or removal of an incumbent.
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