Zimbabwe: Constitutional Lawyers Confident Court Challenges to Amendment Will Succeed

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a 263Chat report from Harare dated July 27, 2026, reported that Zimbabwean constitutional lawyers Tendai Biti and Professor Lovemore Madhuku say court challenges to a recently enacted constitutional amendment have a strong chance of success. They spoke at a press conference convened by Sungano yeVanhu - Ubumbano Lomphakathi, also known as The People's Coalition, which advocates constitutional democracy, the rule of law and popular sovereignty.

According to the report, Biti said seven applications had already been filed at the Constitutional Court by the previous Wednesday, with case management under way and possible consolidation of some matters depending on the legal grounds raised. He said the challenges include arguments over whether office holders may benefit from extending their own term limits, citing Section 328(7), as well as objections to the legislative process and claims that the amendment infringes political rights under Section 67 of the Constitution.

Madhuku said he expected at least one or two of the applications to succeed and rejected the view that the judiciary would automatically approve the amendment. He said the first hearings could take place in September and suggested the court may first consider challenges to the procedure used to pass the amendment, before turning to objections about its content and, if needed, questions around a referendum.

The dispute matters because the amendment has become a major test of Zimbabwe's constitutional order, especially around presidential term limits, electoral participation and the balance between Parliament, the executive and the courts. The article noted that the measure has prompted debate among lawyers, civil society groups and political actors over its implications for constitutional governance.