Zimbabwe News Update
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News / NationalChiwenga not Zanu-PF’s chosen oneby Staff Repoter05 Nov 2025 at 18:46hrs |1349ViewsZimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF has dismissed claims that the push to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term to 2030 is a covert strategy to block Vice President Constantino Chiwenga from succeeding him. Party spokesperson and former ambassador to China, Christopher Mutsvangwa, said Chiwenga is not automatically entitled to take over leadership and must contest elections like any other candidate.”It is not that we do not want him. He can declare his candidacy. There is no provision in the Zimbabwean constitution that the vice president is the automatic leader of the country afterwards,” Mutsvangwa told SABC News. “This is not a papacy.
This is a democratic country, and people go to elections.”Mutsvangwa emphasized that succession in Zimbabwe is determined by the electorate, not by internal party appointments or anointment. He added that Chiwenga is one of many politicians with ambitions for higher office and should be subject to the same democratic processes.President Mnangagwa has previously stated he would step down in 2028, but ZANU-PF recently adopted a resolution at its annual conference supporting a term extension to align with the Vision 2030 development agenda. The proposal has sparked mixed reactions both domestically and abroad.Opposition figures and civil society groups have warned that the move could entrench authoritarianism and undermine democratic norms.
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