Zimbabwe ruling party congress backs presidential term extension

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HARARE - Zimbabwe's ruling party announced Saturday it had agreed the term of President Emmerson Mnangagwa should be extended until 2030, formalising a position that has raised tensions in the battered country.

Mnangagwa, 83, took power in a military-backed coup in 2017, and his constitutionally limited two terms end in 2028. For months, however, factions within the ZANU-PF have been manoeuvring for the extension.

In recognition of "the extensive developmental milestones and significant socio-economic progress" under the president, the ZANU-PF annual congress resolved his term should be extended, party spokesman Nick Mnangagwa said.

The government was directed to initiate the required legislative amendments, he said.

Mnangagwa, who ousted long-time ruler Robert Mugabe, has presided over a collapsing economy that has suffered hyperinflation and unemployment, undermined by alleged corruption and cronyism.

Critics have also accused the ZANU-PF -- in power since independence in 1980 -- of stifling democracy and dissent in the former British colony.

Opposition lawyers would fight moves to alter the Constitution to allow Mnangagwa to stay on, lawyer Tendai Biti said.

"We will defend the Constitution against its capture and manipulation to advance a dangerous, unconstitutional anti-people agenda," he said in a post on X.

"We will fight corrupt cartels and syndicates that have systematically looted Zimbabwe and now want to take over the State," he added.

Ten people, mostly in their sixties and seventies, were arrested in Harare on Friday on allegations they were planning to join a protest to call for Mnangagwa to step down.

They were charged on Saturday with participating in a gathering intended to incite "public violence" and held until a bail hearing due Monday, court officials said.

Earlier this year, 95 youths were arrested for staging similar protests.