By Victor Fanuel
HARARE — Vice President Constantino Chiwenga derailed a Zanu PF politburo meeting on Friday after challenging proposed amendments to the ruling party’s constitution, forcing President Emmerson Mnangagwa to abandon the gathering before he had even joined it, sources said.
The extraordinary meeting had been convened to consider changes to the party’s constitution to align it with the recently amended national constitution, but Chiwenga reportedly declared the proposals illegal and demanded that they be withdrawn from the agenda.
According to party insiders, the vice president confronted Zanu PF secretary-general Jacob Mudenda over the proposed changes, insisting that Mnangagwa and his allies could not alter the party’s constitution using provisions arising from what he considers an illegitimate amendment of the national charter.
Chiwenga reportedly demanded to see the draft amendments Mudenda had brought to the meeting before Mnangagwa arrived at the party headquarters, where the gathering was scheduled to take place.
In front of politburo members, the vice president is said to have made clear that he would not allow the proposed changes to proceed.
The dispute escalated when justice minister
Ziyambi Ziyambi argued that the national constitutional amendments were rooted in resolutions adopted at Zanu PF conferences.
Chiwenga reportedly demanded to see the 21 party resolutions said to have given rise to the 21 changes introduced through Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3, challenging the basis on which the amendments were being justified.
He then instructed Mudenda to inform Mnangagwa that the proposed changes would not be discussed.
Sources said Mudenda went to Mnangagwa’s office at the party headquarters, after which the president called off the meeting.
The dramatic turn of events came amid mounting opposition within Zanu PF to efforts to amend its constitution, with critics questioning both the substance of the proposals and the process being used to push them through.
In a statement issued on Friday, the party’s Department of Information and Publicity said the meeting had been postponed because of competing presidential engagements.
“The above issue refers: today’s politburo meeting was postponed due to an over flow of Presidential programs,” the statement said.
It added: “A new date will be announced in due course.”
The statement, signed by Zanu PF secretary for information and publicity Christopher Mutsvangwa, did not mention the reported confrontation over the proposed constitutional amendments.
However, a senior Zanu PF source dismissed the explanation that a scheduling clash had forced the cancellation.
“A clash of programmes from the same party? That’s hogwash,” the source said. “And in any case politburo meetings take precedence over any other party programme.”
The competing accounts leave the circumstances surrounding the abrupt postponement in dispute, with the party’s official explanation making no reference to the constitutional row described by insiders.
The latest developments follow a warning circulated to journalists on Thursday, purportedly issued by unnamed war veterans, which challenged those pushing for changes to the Zanu PF constitution.
The document warned that those advocating amendments “must come clean that they are no longer Zanu PF”, signalling growing resistance to the proposed changes from within the party’s liberation-era constituency.
Retired Air Marshal Henry Muchena told local news outlet ZimLive that he had seen the document and supported its contents.
“It’s not my duty to oppose war veterans.
“They are stockholders in the governance of this country.
“I’m aligned with what they are saying,” Muchena said.
The document argues that any amendment to the party constitution must begin at the lower levels of the organisation, with the politburo only becoming involved months later, after extensive consultations and discussions.
Its objections centre not only on the substance of the proposed changes but also on the process through which the party intends to adopt them.
Zanu PF is preparing for its 23rd National People’s Conference, scheduled to run from October 12 to 17 at Chinhoyi University of Technology, where the proposed constitutional changes are expected to feature prominently.
The postponement of Friday’s meeting now raises questions over whether the party can resolve the dispute before the conference, which comes as tensions over the national constitutional amendments continue to reverberate through its senior ranks.
