Responding to Ziyambi Ziyambi’s proposed constitutional amendments
Counter-memorandum to the dispossessed proletariat and the masses of Zimbabwe
TO: The Workers, the Peasants, the Students, and the Toiling Masses.
FROM: COALITION OF THE DISPOSSESSED PUSHING FOR A BETTER ZIMBABWE.
SUBJECT: REJECTION OF THE BOURGEOIS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILL (NO. 3) OF 2026.
Comrades, the ruling elite has once again sharpened the bayonets of “legality” to pierce the heart of your sovereignty. Under the guise of “modernisation” and “stability,” the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill, 2026 is a reactionary document designed to consolidate a dictatorship of the comprador bourgeoisie and strip the masses of their hard-won right to self-determination.
We must dismantle this parasitic instrument of oppression clause by clause.
1. The Theft of the Franchise: Parliamentary Selection of the President
The Amendment: Clause 2 repeals the direct election of the President by the people, replacing it with a “parliamentary method” where the President is selected by a joint sitting of Parliament.
This is a classic move to insulate the executive from the revolutionary will of the masses.
By moving the election from the public square to the controlled corridors of Parliament, the ruling class creates a chamber of echoes where leaders are chosen through backroom deals rather than the ballot box.
This violates the hard won one man one vote principle. In addition the clausd violates International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to “genuine periodic elections” that reflect the “free expression of the will of the electors”.
This is the “concealed democracy of the bourgeoisie”—a formal shell that excludes the propertyless majority from meaningful political participation.
The elites are conniving to rob the poor of their right to elect a President of choice.
Our counter proposal is that Presidential powers must be curtailed and power be devolved to the people. The President should be elected directly by the people but cease to be an all powerful President.
2. The Seven-Year Siege: Extension of the Term of Office
The Amendment: Clauses 3, 7, and 8 seek to extend the terms of the President, Parliament, and local authorities from five to seven years.
The regime claims this is to “eliminate election mode toxicity”. In truth, it is an attempt to postpone the day of reckoning. A seven-year term is a lifetime for a worker living in poverty.
It reduces the frequency with which the ruling elite must answer to the people, effectively granting them a longer lease on the state apparatus to further entrench their class interests.
Progressive democratic norms, including those of the SADC Principles, advocate for regular, periodic elections to ensure accountability. Extending terms unilaterally undermines the principle of “consent of the governed”.
3. Turning Chiefs into Partisan Agents.
The Amendment: Clause 20 repeals Section 281(2), which currently prohibits traditional leaders from being members of any political party or participating in partisan politics.
This is a calculated attempt to turn our Chiefs—the custodians of our heritage—into “partisan animals.” By removing the requirement for neutrality, the Bill seeks to transform traditional leadership into a local paramilitary wing of the ruling party. They want to use the Chiefs as overseers to coerce the rural peasantry into submission.
This is the weaponization of the “old feudal order” to serve the modern capitalist state, using traditional structures as a “naked weapon of class rule”.
4. Dismantling the Watchdogs: The Death of Independent Commissions
The Bill repeals the Zimbabwe Gender Commission (Clause 17) and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (Clause 21).
By dissolving these commissions, the state removes the few remaining avenues for social justice and historical accountability. These institutions, though flawed under bourgeois rule, represented a “conquest of struggle” by the people to limit state excesses. Their removal signals a total retreat into authoritarianism.
5. The Erasure of Constitutional Duty for the Military.
Clause 15 amends Section 212 by deleting the requirement for the Defence Forces to “uphold this Constitution,” replacing it with acting merely “in accordance with the Constitution”.
This subtle semantic shift is a dangerous decoupling of the military from its primary duty to the people’s law. It paves the way for a Praetorian Guard that serves the regime rather than the foundational document of the Republic.
UNITE AND KILL THE BILL!
Comrades, the “deliberate refinement” mentioned in their memorandum is nothing but the sharpening of the chains of your exploitation. This Bill is not an “evolution”; it is a counter-revolutionary strike.
The bourgeois state is a weapon. If you do not break the weapon, it will be used to break you. We call upon the dispossessed masses to:
- Organize in every Villag, Street, factory, and campus.
- Reject the attempt to turn our Chiefs into political commissars and the creation of a super powerful unelected President.
- Rise in a united front to bury these amendments before they see the light of day.
- Demand Devolution now
- Boldly declare that all Power belongs to the People!
The rights of the people are not given by the state; they are seized through struggle. Do not let them legislate your silence!
POWER TO THE PEOPLE! NO TO THE SEVEN-YEAR SIEGE!
NO TO AN ALL POWERFUL UNELECTED PRESIDENT!
IMPLEMENT DEVOLUTION NOW!
Obert Masaraure is the national president for Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, human and social justice activist best known for his work defending the rights of rural teachers and advocating for better working conditions in the education sector.
He writes in his own capacity.
