Zimbabwe: UK-Based Zimbabweans to Protest Mnangagwa's Constitutional Amendment Bill On Independence Day

Zimbabweans based in the United Kingdom (UK) are planning a protest against President Emmerson Mnangagwa's proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 on Independence Day in London.

The protest comes weeks after the completion of public hearings on the Bill and heightened pressure from Zanu PF to ensure amendments that will keep Mnangagwa in power till 2030 are passed without going for a referendum.

Organised by the Citizens Protest Movement, the demonstration is will be at Zimbabwe House in London, with protection of the diaspora vote a key note.

If the amendment is passed, voting for the President will become a preserve of Parliamentarians and with no Parliamentary representation those in the diaspora would have no say on who heads the Zimbabwean government by way of voting.

"Zimbabweans across the UK will take to the streets of London on 18 April 2026, Independence Day, to oppose the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill and demand that any changes to the country's constitution be put to the people through a national referendum, as the constitution itself requires," reads a statement shared by the Citizens Protest Movement.

"Protesters are calling on Mnangagwa's government to halt the bill, which constitutional experts have condemned as a fundamental assault on Zimbabwe's democratic foundations and a deliberate attempt to bypass the constitutional safeguards that exist precisely to protect citizens from the concentration of unchecked power.

"For the Zimbabwean diaspora, the stakes are especially acute. If the President is no longer directly elected, any meaningful diaspora vote becomes effectively irrelevant."

Mnangagwa's determination to extend his second and final term by two years against the Zimbabwean Constitution has divided the Zanu PF party.

A section of its members from his rural province of Midlands and neighbouring Masvingo are actively campaigning for him to hang on while another is demanding that he respects dictates of the 2013 Constitution.

Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.