Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Photo: Supplied
Around midnight, four unidentified men kidnapped a security guard, set fire to a seminar room and locked the main gate at the Southern Africa Political Economy Series Trust’s Harare headquarters, with new keys.
This was hours before an event which was to feature a diverse group of activists from the opposition and civic society, and disgruntled war veterans, speaking against the proposed extension of President Emmerson Mnangagwa term.
Less than 50km from the venue, the Highfield township home of Gilbert Mbwende, a member of the Constitutional Defence Forum, was petrol bombed around about the same time.
The national press conference, “Constitutional Crossroads: Citizens Respond to Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Crisis”, was due to be simulcast at the Bulawayo Club, a private hotel in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, to be addressed by other speakers.
However, just before 11am, when the programme was meant to start, attendees found the place blocked by authorities from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and state security.
In Harare, the main speakers were to be leading opposition politicians Job Sikhala and Tendai Biti, while in Bulawayo, the most notable speaker was to be Zapu leader Sibangilizwe Nkomo, the son of the late Joshua Nkomo, founding father of the struggle against colonialism and the country’s first post-independence vice-president.
By the time of going to press, Ibbo Mandaza, the Southern Africa Political Economy Series director, had advised that they were making other plans for the conference to proceed while the police had yet to issue an official statement.
In response to the attacks, Biti said the actions were “desperate daylight terrorism” and vowed that it would not “stop or derail our resistance or today’s peaceful democratic, lawful and constitutional process”.
Jacob Ngarivhume, leader of the political party Transform Zimbabwe, said it was an all-too-familiar tactic from the past and blamed the regime.
Zanu-PF trolls on social media dismissed the attacks as attention-seeking gimmicks.
Addressing journalists, Biti said Zimbabweans had been brought together to fight against an assault on the constitution and this fight was not partisan.
“It’s a non-partisan, non-political effort to defend the constitution,” he said.
If Zanu-PF manages to alter the constitution, it will give President Mnangagwa two more years in office. His constitutional term is set to end in 2028. If successful, he will be head of state at the ripe age of 88.
But there are elements within the party who are against the term extension, which will eventually delay or derail Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s presidential ambitions.