HARARE – A controversial bill that would see MPs vote to extend their tenure and that of President Emmerson Mnangagwa by an extra two years will be presented in parliament for its first reading on Tuesday, setting off a process which will culminate in a vote.
Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi will read the bill before it goes to parliament’s legal committee which will provide an opinion on any clauses that may be in conflict with other constitutional provisions.
After the legal committee presents its report the government may make changes before the bill goes for its second reading followed by a debate by MPs.
The bill will subsequently go to the Senate for debate before it returns to the National Assembly for its third reading and a vote.
The amendments must pass with two thirds in both the National Assembly and the Senate where Zanu PF enjoys a super majority, before the bill is sent to President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his signature. MPs will vote by a show of hands, Ziyambi said, removing the option of a secret ballot.
Beyond the term extension provisions, the bill proposes sweeping changes to how the country is governed.
Its most consequential provision repeals Section 92 of the constitution, which provides for the direct election of the president by voters. In its place, the president would be elected by members of parliament at a joint sitting of the Senate and the National Assembly, with a candidate required to receive more than half of the valid votes cast. 
The bill also transfers responsibility for registering voters, compiling voters’ rolls, and maintaining voter registers from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to the Registrar-General. 
The Senate would be enlarged from 80 to 90 members, with ten additional senators appointed by the president on the basis of professional skills and competencies. 
A new Zimbabwe Electoral Delimitation Commission would be established to draw electoral boundaries, replacing ZEC in that function. Its chairperson must be qualified to sit as a Supreme Court judge, with four other members drawn from legal, governance, demographic and electoral expertise. 
The bill also amends the qualification threshold for appointment as Attorney-General, substituting “High Court” with “Supreme Court” as the relevant benchmark. 
Two constitutional commissions – the Gender Commission and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission – would be abolished under the bill. 
The mandatory 90-day public consultation process which preceded Tuesday’s first reading was itself deeply contested. Human rights watchdog Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) warned that violence, intimidation and harassment linked to the debate risked weakening democratic participation, with citizens effectively being pressured to support the bill while opposing views were treated as criminal. 
Violence erupted during public hearings at the City Sports Centre in Harare on March 31, where perceived opponents of the bill and journalists covering the event were physically assaulted and intimidated.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, which monitored the nationwide hearings, acknowledged reports of intimidation, harassment of dissenting voices and restricted civic space in some areas, saying the issues required urgent attention. 
The Defend the Constitution Platform, the Constitutional Defenders Forum and the National Constitutional Assembly jointly pulled out of the hearings on April 1, with Jameson Timba, Tendai Biti and Lovemore Madhuku citing violence, intimidation and what they described as a stage-managed process.
The swelling ranks of the bill’s critics including churches, legal experts and opposition politicians say that to the extent the bill seeks to extend the five-year terms of incumbent MPs, the president and councillors due to end in 2028, it should be subjected to a referendum as required under the constitution.
Ziyambi has maintained that the bill does not trigger term limit provisions and that no referendum is required.
The justice minister expects the bill – if passed – to reach Mnangagwa’s table by the end of June, even as multiple court applications are pending seeking to torpedo it, or at least force a referendum.
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