ZANU-PF Treasure General, Patrick Chinamasa, has slammed Wicknell Chivayo for his planned donation of $3.6 Million to Parliament.
High Level Summary of Chinamasa’s Tweet
-
Support for ZANU PF Youth League Statement: Fully endorses the Youth League’s condemnation (issued by Cde John Paradza, MP for Gutu West and Deputy Secretary for Youth Affairs) of Wicknell Chivhayo’s announced US$3.6 million donation to parliamentarians. Describes the donation as misguided, ill-advised, ill-conceived, uncalled for, and a brazen attempt to discredit President Mnangagwa, state institutions, parliament, and government.
-
Criticism of the Donation: Views the timing (on the eve of the historic constitutional amendment) as a base, unethical, unprincipled, and unnecessary effort to influence the outcome of the CAB3 debate. Praises the Youth League for its ideological clarity and states that Zimbabwe and ZANU PF are in safe hands with such youth.
-
Assurance on CAB3 Passage: Declares that CAB3 will receive overwhelming support in both the National Assembly and Senate. States ZANU PF MPs will vote according to party resolutions from the Bulawayo and Mutare Annual People’s Conferences and on the bill’s own merits.
-
Justification for Supporting CAB3:
-
Economic progress and leadership continuity: Zimbabwe’s economy is rising and stabilising (top 10 fastest-growing in Sub-Saharan Africa for 2025–2026 per World Bank/IMF assessments), driven by agriculture, mining, infrastructure, and socio-economic gains under President Mnangagwa. Zimbabweans therefore demand a two-year extension of his service (2028–2030) for continuity and consolidation of achievements.
-
Not a violation of liberation struggle principles: The armed struggle was fought for “one man one vote,” which was achieved in 1980. Parliament has always had the constitutional power to amend the constitution when circumstances demand progress. Many democracies (South Africa, Botswana, Angola, USA, Germany) elect the president indirectly via parliament without being considered undemocratic.
-
President’s election method never an issue in liberation history: Claims the question of whether the president is elected directly by the people or by parliament was never debated during the armed struggle or in pre-independence records of ZANU, ZAPU, ZIPRA, ZANLA, etc.
-
Frequent elections are divisive and harmful to development: Elections create unnecessary division and distract from real national priorities. Zimbabwe remains developmentally behind Europe, USA, India, China, and South-East Asia; lengthening the electoral cycle from 5 to 7 years will promote unity and focus on development.
-
Elections are extremely costly: The 2023 harmonised elections cost the government over US$165 million (excluding party campaign spending). Extending the cycle frees resources for schools, hospitals, roads, dams, irrigation, etc.
-
No referendum required: Section 91(2) of the Constitution disqualifies a person after two full terms (three or more years counts as a full term). The proposed two-year extension is less than three years, so it does not trigger the term-limit disability or require a referendum. Chinamasa salutes Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and the Attorney General’s Office for choosing this lawful, expeditious route instead of his earlier concept note that would have needed one.
-
-
Closing Call: Urges Zimbabweans who want a prosperous, stable, industrialising, upper-middle-income country to support CAB3. Ends with a call in Shona for those who do not yet understand to be taught and to accept being taught.
FULL STATEMENT BY CHINAMASA
I stand solidly behind, and in full support of, the statement just issued on behalf of the Zanupf Youth League by Honourable Cde John Paradza, Member of Parliament for Gutu West and Deputy Secretary of Youth Affairs of the Revolutionary Mass Party Zanupf, castigating the announced donation of usd$3,6million by Sir Wicknell Chivhayo to Parliamentarians on the eve of a historic amendment of our National Constitution.
I totally agree that the proposed donation is misguided, ill advised, ill conceived, uncalled for, and a brazen but futile attempt to put our President Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa, our State Institutions, and the entire Parliamentary and Government Leadership and System into disrepute. The announced donation can only be interpreted by right thinking men and women as a base, unethical, unprincipled, and unnecessary attempt to influence the outcome of the ongoing debate on CAB3. The Zanupf Youth League is ideologically correct and, with Youths of this ideological clarity, I can safely say that the Country and Zanupf are in safe political hands.
And let it be said, and loudly so, that CAB3 will receive the overwhelming support of both Houses of Parliament (i.e. the National Assembly and the Senate) because Zanupf Members of Parliament will vote according to the dictates of the Zanupf Party in compliance with the Bulawayo and Mutare Zanupf Annual People’s Conference Resolutions, and also purely on its own merits.
For the following reasons, CAB3 deserves to be supported by all Zimbabweans who want to see in their lifetimes a prosperous, stable, industrialising, and economically empowered Upper Middle Income society and country:
a) by all accounts, even from the evaluation or assessments by sanctions imposing countries and by International Institutions, like the World Bank and The IMF, Zimbabwe‘s sanctions busted economy is rising and stabilizing, driven by agriculture and mining, and is now rated among the top 10 fastest growing economies in Sub Saharan Africa for 2025 and 2026, with 5% projected growth in 2026 and reduced inflation to single digit annual figures, not to mention the significant infrastructural and other socio economic developments undertaken in a very short period of time, thanks to the able and sound leadership of Our President, Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa. It is for this reason, and this reason alone, that Zimbabweans are demanding a 2 year extension of President Mnangagwa’s noble and valued service to his motherland, Zimbabwe, for just one last time. The clarion call should be continuity and consolidation of the achievements gained thus far;
b) CAB3 is not an iota in violation of the Liberation Struggle, as is being alleged by some detractors. Far from it. We fought for one man one vote. True. We got one man one vote in 1980. True. With independence in 1980, thanks to the 15 years (July 1964 – December 1079) of protracted Armed Struggle, every Zimbabwean citizen from the age of 18 years and above got the right to be voted as a people’s representative in Parliament /Local Authorities or to vote to choose persons to represent us in Parliament, with the clear constitutional understanding that when Parliament is set up it will have the power to pass laws on our behalf and for our benefit and, within certain embedded parameters within the Constitution itself, to amend at will the National Constitution, as and when prevailing circumstances demand, for the progress of the Nation and the wellbeing of its people. That, in a nutshell, is what one man/woman one vote is all about.
Candidates for election to Parliament contest under the banner of Political Parties, and the political party which wins the majority seats in an election forms the government of the day and is empowered to rule the country. Political parties go into an election led by their respective Leaders (already called Presidents, by the way), chosen not by the generality of the population but by their respective Party Congresses. The Party which wins the majority in Parliament will inevitably elect its Party President to be the President of Zimbabwe. Such a political system of Parliamentarians electing a President is not a violation, or in violation, of one man /woman one vote or what we fought for militarily, and in adopting this system we are not alone. South Africa, Botswana, Angola, the USA, and Germany, to mention just but a few countries, have this indirect Parliamentary system to Elect the Head of State/President, and these countries are not considered any less democratic;
c) how a President of the country was to be elected, whether directly by the people or by Parliament, was never an issue on the table during our liberation history, and I dare say it was never an issue, or an issue that was debated, during the Armed Struggle. It was a non issue. I challenge anyone to retrieve from the NDP, ANC, ZAPU, ZANU Zipra or Zanla pre independence minutes, historical records, or archives pertaining to the political or our armed struggle any excerpts from the respective Parties’ Minutes or speeches or addresses of our late Founding Fathers over the issue of how the President of the country was going to be elected after gaining independence;
d) Elections, by their very nature, are divisive and they give vent to cantankerous emotions and so, the more frequent elections are held, the more the population becomes divided over trivial matters that have no bearing on the welfare of the protagonists or the general population. Such fraternal fights are not good for development. They divert attention from the real focus. If Zimbabweans don’t know it, let them be educated that, as a country, we are still very much behind in developmental terms. In terms of development we are a millennium behind countries like Europe, our estwhile Colonisers, or countries like the USA, India, China, or countries in South East Asia. To catch up, we need Unity, Unity and more Unity, and less indulgence in costly divisive events that divide us. It is for this reason that I am supporting the lengthening of the electoral cycle from 5 to 7 years. We need to spend more time working and prospering than over wasteful haranguing over trifles;
e) elections, by nature, are very costly and when we undertake them as a pastime we do so at our peril and at the expense of our socioeconomic development. I understand that in 2023 Harmonised Elections it cost Government in excess of usd $165 million to run the elections, not to mention what we as political parties spent in our respective election campaigns. Just imagine what the country can do with that kind of money to advance development, to build schools, hospitals, roads, dams, irrigation systems etc. Once again, this is my further justification of lengthening the electoral cycle from 5 to 7 years;
f) there are those who are needlessly arguing that it is constitutionally obligatory for CAB3 to go to a referendum and on this point the address I gave to the 2024 Zanupf Annual People’s Conference in Bulawayo is being replayed on social media ad infinitum. To this I raise my right clenched fist and shout:
“Wasingaziwe / Abangaziyo / Ongayaziyo Khe;
And may Zimbabweans who hunger and thirst for development are invited to shout back:
“Ngawafundiswe uyezve Ngawabvume kufundiswa / abafundiswe njalo abavume ukufundiswa / laba bavumwe ukufunda.”
Section 91(2) of our National Constitution reads as follows: (2) A person is disqualified for election as President or appointment as Vice President if he or she has already held office as President under this Constitution for two terms, whether continuous or not, and for the purpose of this subsection three or more years’ service is deemed to be a full term.
The proposed extension (2028-2030) is 2 years, not 3 or more years. Less than 3 years service does not constitute a term. In my address to the 2024 Zanupf Annual People’s Conference in Bulawayo, I had envisaged in my Concept Note a full third term for the President (with The President giving way to one of his Deputies in 2030 to finish the remainder of the third term), and if this had been the route we followed this clearly would have required a Referendum to remove the constitutional disability imposed on the Incumbent President. Happily, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi and the able battery of Lawyers in the Attorney General’s Office chose a more expeditious and less costly legal route that did not require the holding of a Referendum. I salute them for this perfectly constitutionally lawful CAB3.
Those who have eyes, let them “eye”; and those who have ears, let them “ear”. Nokuti hatigoni kurega kutaura izvotakaona neizvotakanzwa.
