Lawyer warns Munhumutapa Day could be first step towards monarchy

Top lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu has warned that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s decision to declare his own birthday a public holiday called Munhumutapa Day could mark the start of an attempt to alter Zimbabwe’s constitutional order – perhaps a first step towards a monarchy.

Writing on X, he said the declaration should not be dismissed as mere “senile madness” but as a desecration of Zimbabwe’s constitutional order.

“In my view, the Munhumutapa declaration is significant. It sits somewhere between CAB3 and CAB4, and the fact that Mnangagwa issued it on the same day he announced plans to remain in power beyond 2030 should give us serious pause,” he wrote.

“I choose to see it, insane as it may sound, as the beginning of an attempt to alter our constitutional order; perhaps the first step towards a monarchy. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not senile madness. It is something far more troubling: a desecration.”

Mnangagwa declared 15 September, which is also his birthday, a national public holiday to be known as Munhumutapa Day.

The declaration was made through Statutory Instrument 148 of 2026 under the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act, published in the Government Gazette Extraordinary on 9 September 2026.

The notice reads: “His Excellency the President, in terms of section 2(2) of the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act [Chapter 10:21], hereby makes the following notice: 1. This notice may be cited as the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business (Declaration of Public Holiday) Notice, 2026. 2. It is hereby declared that the 15th of September every year henceforth shall be a public holiday to be known as Munhumutapa Day.”

Munhumutapa, also written as Mwenemutapa, was the royal title used by rulers of the pre-colonial Mutapa Empire, which emerged in the 15th century and covered parts of present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The title is commonly translated as “lord of the conquered lands”. The holiday is being presented as a celebration of Zimbabwe’s pre-colonial history and civilisation.

The declaration comes as some of Mnangagwa’s supporters have suggested turning his presidency into a monarchy, just months after he pushed through a constitutional amendment extending his second term from five years to seven.