By Advent Shoko
Zimbabwe’s 2026 Presidential Amnesty, announced this week as a humanitarian gesture, has taken a sharp political twist after activist and journalist Jealousy Mbizvo Mawarire alleged that the move is not about mercy, but strategy.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi on Tuesday outlined categories of inmates who qualify for release. The beneficiaries reportedly run into the thousands. Traditionally, such amnesties are framed as acts of clemency meant to decongest prisons and give certain offenders a second chance.
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But Mawarire sees something deeper. He said:
“On the suface, you think this is a benevolent gesture by a compassionate, humane President but with @edmnangagwa, everything is calculated for political gain.
Word is that ED and Ziyambi Ziyambi have virtually emptied prisons, not out of some empathetic drive shown to the categorized prisoners, but to create room for anti-2030 political prisoners likely to accrue as the regime clamps down on any resistance to the unconstitutional term extension drive tabled in cabinet yesterday.
ED has to be stopped, jail or no jail.
#NoToMutilationOfTheConstitution”
Zimbabwe’s Presidential Amnesty vs Anti-2030 agenda: The timing has raised eyebrows.
On the same day the amnesty categories were made public, Minister Ziyambi tabled constitutional amendment proposals before Cabinet. The proposed Amendment seeks, among other changes, to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term of office to 2030 and to shift the election of the President from direct public vote to Members of Parliament.
Cabinet has already adopted the Bill.
Critics argue that the convergence of the amnesty announcement and the constitutional reform agenda is too convenient to ignore. Supporters of government, however, insist the amnesty is routine and administrative, pointing to prison overcrowding and long-standing clemency traditions.
From a governance standpoint, presidential amnesty is a constitutional power. The President has authority to grant pardons and commute sentences. Legally, the move stands on firm ground. Politically, however, perception is everything.
If Mawarire’s claim holds weight, it suggests a government preparing for heightened political confrontation as resistance to the so-called “2030 agenda” intensifies. That would imply that litigation currently underway to block the amendment may be more symbolic than decisive.
Several individuals and civic groups have already approached the courts challenging the constitutionality of the proposed changes. Yet sceptics argue that legal battles alone may not alter the political trajectory if the ruling party remains united behind the amendment.
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