Madhuku is no stranger to constitutional battles…
By Advent Shoko
Constitutional law expert Professor Lovemore Madhuku has vowed to stop ZANU-PF’s 2030 agenda, framing the fight as both a legal battle and a moral obligation. Madhuku says stopping ZANU-PF’s 2030 agenda is now part of honouring the legacy of the late war veteran Blessed Runesu Geza, popularly known as Cde Bombshell.
Madhuku made the pledge in a condolence message to the Geza family following the death of Cde Bombshell, who had become one of the most outspoken critics of efforts to amend Zimbabwe’s Constitution to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rule beyond the current 2028 limit.
ZANU-PF has been pushing for constitutional changes that would allow Mnangagwa to remain in office until at least 2030. Before his death, Geza openly opposed the proposal, arguing that it betrayed the values of the liberation struggle. He went further, controversially calling on citizens to march to State House to force the President to step down. The march dubbed One Million March flopped but sent a message across the government which deployed security personnel ahead of March.
Geza died in exile on Friday, 6 February 2026, at a cardiac institute in South Africa.
In his eulogy, Madhuku made it clear that the constitutional fight would continue in Geza’s name, describing it as unfinished business that must be pursued through lawful means. He said:
“Rest in peace Cde Blessed Bombshell Geza. My condolences to your family and comrades. In your memory and honour, the attempts to amend the Constitution to extend the President’s term to 2030 will be fought and defeated.”
Madhuku is no stranger to constitutional battles. Over the years, he has led and won several high-profile legal challenges involving electoral law, constitutional amendments, and governance reforms. However, the terrain ahead appears far more difficult, especially amid growing claims from opposition parties and civil society that Zimbabwe’s courts are increasingly captured by the ruling establishment.
President Mnangagwa has previously insisted that he has no intention of seeking a third term, arguing that he is bound by the Constitution. What remains unclear, however, is what happens if the Constitution itself is amended to permit extended tenure.
Legal analysts, including a Harare-based lawyer who spoke on condition of anonymity, are already grappling with uncomfortable questions. Can constitutional amendments be crafted to directly benefit a sitting president? If term limits are altered now, would Mnangagwa automatically qualify to contest again, or would further amendments be required to reset the clock?
ZANU-PF formally adopted a resolution at its People’s Annual Conference in Mutare last year endorsing the extension of Mnangagwa’s rule. Opposition leaders, including Nelson Chamisa, dismissed the resolution at the time, arguing that it was merely a party position rather than a national mandate.
However, ZANU-PF’s parliamentary dominance gives it the numerical muscle to push through constitutional changes. Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has already signalled this thinking, controversially stating that only the biblical Ten Commandments are sacrosanct, not constitutional provisions that bar a president from serving more than two terms.
As the debate sharpens, Madhuku’s vow signals that the battle over Zimbabwe’s constitutional future may soon move decisively into the courts, with the memory of Cde Bombshell Geza now firmly embedded in the resistance to ZANU-PF’s 2030 agenda.
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