CHIWENGA DRAWS THE LINE: ZANU-PF POLITBURO MEETING ABANDONED OVER CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

Jealousy Mawarire alleges that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga challenged plans to amend the ZANU-PF constitution, arguing that the proposed changes were based on constitutional amendments he considers illegal.

A reported confrontation between Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and President Emmerson Mnangagwa's allies has raised fresh questions about divisions within ZANU-PF over Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3) and the party's plans to align its constitution with the amended national constitution.

In a social media post, political commentator Jealousy Mawarire claimed that an extraordinary Politburo meeting intended to discuss changes to the ZANU-PF constitution was abandoned on Friday afternoon after Chiwenga objected to the proposed amendments.

According to Mawarire, Chiwenga argued that the party could not legitimately change its constitution to conform to provisions introduced into the national constitution through what he described as an illegal process.

The account has not been independently verified, and no official explanation confirming the alleged confrontation or the reason for abandoning the meeting was available for this report.

CHIWENGA ALLEGEDLY DEMANDED TO SEE THE DRAFT

Mawarire claims that Chiwenga demanded to see the proposed constitutional changes held by ZANU-PF Secretary-General Advocate Jacob Mudenda before Mnangagwa joined the meeting.

According to the post, Chiwenga then confronted Mudenda in the presence of other Politburo members, including First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa.

Mawarire alleges that Chiwenga made it clear he would not allow the President and his allies to change the party constitution in the same manner that the national constitution had allegedly been altered without a genuine mandate from the people.

The reported exchange, if accurately described, would represent a significant challenge from the Vice President within the ruling party's highest decision-making structures.

THE 21 RESOLUTIONS QUESTION

One of the most significant details in Mawarire's account concerns the claim that the proposed national constitutional changes originated from ZANU-PF conference resolutions.

Mawarire alleges that when Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi argued that the changes were based on party conference resolutions, Chiwenga demanded to see the 21 resolutions said to have produced the 21 constitutional changes associated with CAB3.

That demand goes to the heart of the political dispute: whether party resolutions provide sufficient political legitimacy for constitutional changes affecting the country's governing framework.

A party resolution and a constitutional amendment are not the same thing. A resolution expresses a party's position; constitutional changes must still comply with the applicable constitutional and legal procedures.

The central issue raised by the account is whether the proposed changes to the ZANU-PF constitution can proceed while the legitimacy of the underlying national constitutional changes remains contested.

MUDENDA REPORTEDLY WENT TO MNANGAGWA

Mawarire further claims that Chiwenga instructed Mudenda to inform Mnangagwa that the proposed amendments would not be discussed.

According to the post, Mudenda subsequently went to Mnangagwa's office at ZANU-PF headquarters. Mnangagwa then allegedly called for the meeting to be abandoned.

If this sequence is confirmed, the episode would suggest that the dispute had reached the highest levels of the ruling party and had prevented the meeting from proceeding as planned.

It would also raise questions about whether the constitutional changes have sufficient internal support to move forward without resistance from senior party officials.

A DEEPER CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL CONFRONTATION

The reported dispute comes amid continuing controversy over CAB3, which has generated debate over constitutional procedure, presidential tenure and the balance of political power in Zimbabwe.

The confrontation described by Mawarire should not yet be treated as an independently confirmed account of what occurred inside the meeting. Neither the alleged exchanges nor the stated reason for abandoning the meeting have been established through an official account in the information available for this report.

Nevertheless, the allegations point to a critical question for ZANU-PF: can the party secure internal agreement on constitutional changes when senior figures disagree over the legitimacy of the national constitutional process on which those changes would be based?

The immediate questions are whether the party will reconvene the meeting, whether the proposed amendments will be revised, and whether ZANU-PF will publicly explain what happened.

For now, Mawarire's account presents a picture of a ruling party facing a potentially consequential internal dispute over constitutional authority.

As he concluded in his original post: “The temperature is rising in the ruling party. We can only observe!”

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ORIGINAL POST BY JEALOUSY MAWARIRE

The following is preserved verbatim from the account supplied for this report:

The Zanu-PF extra-ordinary politburo meeting that was supposed to discuss changes to the Zanu-PF constitution to align it with the mutilated national constitution was abandoned this afternoon after Vice President and 2nd Secretary of Zanu-PF, Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, declared that the changes were illegal since they were based on provisions from an illegally changed national constitution.

VP Chiwenga, sources say, demanded to see the draft changes that party SG Advocate Mudenda had before President Mnangagwa joined the meeting.

In the presence of all other Politiburo members including First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, VP Chiwenga told Mudenda that he (Chiwenga) was not going to allow ED and his cronies to illegally change the party constitution in the way they did the national constitution.

Chiwenga insisted that the changes to the national constitution did not come from the people. When Ziyambi Ziyambi tried to argue that the changes to the national constitution came from Zanu-PF conference resolutions, Chiwenga demanded to see the 21 Zanu-PF resolutions which gave birth to the 21 changes that CAB3 brought to the country's constitution.

Chiwenga demanded that Mudenda goes to ED and tell him that Chiwenga had said the changes are not going to be discussed.

It is said Mudenda went to ED's office at the Zanu-PF headquarters, the venue for the politburo meeting, and Mnangagwa then called the meeting to be abandoned.

The temperature is rising in the ruling party. We can only observe!