Biti warns of plot to destroy Constitution and introduce monarchy

Sungano Yevanhu member Tendai Biti has warned that the ZANU PF-led government is moving rapidly to destroy the Constitution and replace the republic with a monarchy, following the enactment of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Act, 2026.

Biti’s warning comes after President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared his birthday a public holiday to be known as Munhumutapa Day.

Moreover, the President’s key backer, Wicknell Chivayo, has gone as far as referring to Mnangagwa as Munhumutapa — a reference to the ruler of the ancient great empire that once stretched across Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Addressing the media on Monday, 28 September, Biti said any attempt to introduce a monarchy will be resisted, particularly by people he said have no claim to the original Munhumutapa kingdom.

“We will resist any attempt to destroy Zimbabwe and establish a monarchy — a dubious monarchy, for that matter — by people who are never and were never claimants of the original Munhumutapa kingdom,” he said.

Biti said what is being presented as a constitutional amendment is in fact an attempt to dismantle the republican character of the State.

“But we are concerned that the regime is already on autopilot to amend this constitution — not just to amend it, to destroy this constitution through the introduction of a monarchy and the destruction of a republic,” he said.

“Zimbabwe is a republic. People died to establish this republic. When they went to war, they went to war to vindicate the principle of ‘one man, one vote’, the principle of ‘one woman, one vote’. Representative democracy is at the epicentre of republicanism.”

He said the irony was that the current administration itself claims legitimacy under republicanism.

“Even the same charlatan regime that runs us masquerades under a moniker: ‘The Second Republic’ — that’s what they call themselves,” Biti said.

Biti warned that those who fought for independence and the younger generation would not stand by.

“So we will not accept that absolute nonsense — a nonsense that will cross the lines. Those who fought to establish this republic will not sit and watch. We, who were too young to participate in that war, will not sit and watch the decimation of the Zimbabwean state, the decimation of the Zimbabwean Republic.”

He argued that any amendment to create a monarchy will violate the basic structure of the Constitution and therefore be unlawful.

“And such a constitutional amendment is an unlawful constitutional amendment, because the basic structure of the Zimbabwean Constitution is republicanism,” Biti said.

“So you are creating a monster that is not connected to that constitution. Don’t call it a constitutional amendment — it is a coup, a blatant coup against republicanism, and we will not accept that.”