Zimbabwe: Churches Renew Calls for Referendum, Urge Dialogue Over CAB3

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a New Zimbabwe report, says the Zimbabwe Council of Churches has renewed its demand for a national referendum on Constitution Amendment No. 3, also referred to in the report as CAB3 or CAA3. In a pastoral letter issued Monday, the ZCC said the law, signed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on July 7, had not settled the dispute around constitutional changes but had instead sharpened national divisions.

According to the report, the church body argues that amendments touching on presidential and parliamentary terms, succession arrangements and protections around term limits should have been put directly to voters under Section 328 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution. The council said a referendum would strengthen public legitimacy and help ease tensions, rather than signal weakness.

The ZCC also pushed back against suggestions that citizens, churches or other groups challenging the amendments are acting against the State or on behalf of foreign interests. It urged respect for court cases already filed against the law and called on the judiciary to handle the matters independently.

On possible demonstrations, the churches appealed for peaceful and responsible conduct by citizens and warned against violence, property damage and hate speech. They also called on government, police and security agencies to allow lawful assemblies and respond with restraint. The dispute matters because it touches Zimbabwe’s constitutional order, public trust in political institutions and the limits of executive and parliamentary power.