President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s appointment of 10 senators is being challenged at the Constitutional Court, where a Bulawayo-based activist and a pressure group are seeking an urgent order to stop the nominees from being sworn in and to have the appointments declared null and void.

Thamsanqa Ncube and Ibhetshu LikaZulu filed the urgent chamber application, citing as respondents the President, the Speaker of Parliament, Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, the Attorney-General and the 10 nominees, according to court papers reported by CITE and NewZimbabwe.

The nominees, announced in the National Assembly on 18 August, are Jabulani Sibanda, Makhosini Hlongwane, Mary Mliswa, Nokuthula Matsikenyere, Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Godwills Masimirembwa, Lucy Chitaga, retired General Gibson Mashingaidze, Brilliant Dube and Iren Mutumbwa.

The applicants argue that Section 120(1)(e) of the Constitution, introduced by Constitutional Amendment No. 3, which expanded the Senate from 80 to 90 members, only allows the President to appoint the extra senators on the basis of professional skills and other competencies, and after consultation with the National Assembly. They contend the nominees are career politicians drawn from the ruling party, and that no independent expertise has been brought into the Senate.

They also attack the process in Parliament, saying the Speaker’s announcement of the names did not amount to consultation. There was “no debate, no question, no point of order, and no opportunity for meaningful consultation”, the founding affidavit argues, adding that no legislative framework yet exists setting out how such consultation should be conducted.

The applicants say the matter is urgent because the nominees could be sworn in imminently, after which they would sit and vote in the Upper House with full rights.

The challenge follows Mnangagwa’s first use of the expanded appointment powers, which drew attention chiefly for the inclusion of businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei.

Sources: CITE, NewZimbabwe.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has moved to appoint businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei and nine others to Zimbabwe’s Senate, in the first use of powers created by Constitutional Amendment Act No. 3.

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda announced the names in the National Assembly on Tuesday, telling the House that the President was “desirous of appointing” the ten. Alongside Tagwirei, the list comprises Jabulani Sibanda, Mary Mliswa, Nokuthula Matsikenyere, Godwills Masimirembwa, Lucy Chitaga, retired General Gibson Mashingaidze, Makhosini Hlongwane, Brilliant Dube and Irene Mutumbwa.

The amendment, signed into law in July, enlarges the Senate from 80 members to 90 by creating ten additional seats filled by presidential appointment. The Constitution provides for those appointees to be chosen for their professional skills and other competencies, after consultation with the National Assembly.

Constitutional Amendment Act No. 3 also lengthens presidential and parliamentary terms from five years to seven, and replaces the direct election of the president with a vote by members of parliament. The practical effect is that the general election previously due in 2028 will now be held in 2030. The National Assembly approved the Bill by 216 votes to 42 before it completed its passage through Parliament.

Tagwirei, the founder of Sakunda Holdings and an adviser to the President, is the most prominent name on the list, and the appointment would give him a formal seat in Parliament for the first time. He was designated by the United States Treasury in 2020, which accused him of using relationships with senior officials to obtain state contracts and preferential access to foreign currency. Tagwirei and the Zimbabwean government have rejected allegations of wrongdoing.

Several of the other names are drawn from the ruling party’s provincial structures. Sibanda is Zanu PF’s Bulawayo provincial chairperson and a former leader of the war veterans’ association, Masimirembwa chairs the party in Harare province and Mliswa-Chikoka chairs Mashonaland West. Hlongwane served as Minister of Sport and Recreation under the late Robert Mugabe.

Sources: NewZimbabwe.com; CITE (Centre for Innovation and Technology).

Students at the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) have been ordered to vacate their campus hostels so the accommodation can be renovated ahead of Zanu PF’s 23rd annual conference, which the ruling party will hold at the university in October.

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) says the affected students — including final-year students working on dissertations — are fully paid up on their accommodation fees and are being relocated to Chinhoyi High School at short notice.

In a statement, ZINASU’s CUT chairman Hillary Masango condemned what he called an “autocratic, short-notice decree”, accusing university management of “prioritizing administrative convenience over student dignity and academic stability” and of treating students as “temporary placeholders who can be shifted around at a whim”.

“We will not sit back while administrative recklessness disrupts students’ lives. Education is a right, not a privilege,” Masango said.

The Standard reported that party advance teams, including security personnel, have already begun arriving at the university, and that the directive has disrupted lectures and angered students. Thousands of delegates are expected when the conference convenes.

The conference takes place against the backdrop of constitutional changes initiated by Zanu PF that extended President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s tenure, with elections pushed back to 2030 — a move that has drawn sustained criticism from opposition parties, churches and civic groups.

CUT’s director of public relations, Shadreck Nembaware, could not be reached for comment, NewZimbabwe.com reported.

Sources: The Standard, NewZimbabwe.com, ZINASU statement