ZANU-PF calls for Mugabe to be president for life
By Tererai Karimakwenda
31 July, 2007

“We knew he wanted to die in office anyway” was the immediate reaction of one Harare resident. “He is too afraid to resign and face justice for what he did,” said another. The two were commenting on a report by the IRIN news agency on Tuesday that said ZANU-PF’s central committee and politburo held a meeting on March 30 where they called for party leader Robert Mugabe to be installed as president for life.
IRIN said minutes from the meeting were leaked to their correspondent by a senior official who was present at the time. The report comes just a day after it was revealed that army chiefs had agreed to help Mugabe win the presidential election next year, with the promise that he would step down soon after.
IRIN said it appeared Vice-President Joseph Msika was the only one who opposed the move. The ZANU-PF Women's League, led by Oppah Muchinguri, is said to be pushing for Mugabe to be awarded the position.

It appears the ruling party is making moves to strengthen and maintain its hold on Zimbabwe’s political landscape, rather than opening up democratic space in preparation for elections next year.
Innocent Gonese, the secretary for legal and parliamentary affairs in the Tsvangirai MDC, said even without making these pronouncements, Mugabe can still achieve this goal. He explained that the problem is with our current constitution because it gives too much power to the office of the president and does not have any term limits. As a result, Mugabe has been the executive president since 1987, in addition to the years he spent as head of government with the title of executive prime minister.
Gonese said the MDC will continue to push for a complete overhaul of the current constitution and an independent electoral body to ensure free and fair elections. He also described the voter registration exercise recently conducted by government as “a sham” saying it is already skewered in favour of ZANU-PF.

As for Mugabe’s promise to step down soon after the presidential election if the army helps him win - don’t bet any forex on that!