When
Zimbabwean
president
Emmerson
Mnangagwa,
83,
signed
legislation
into
law
last
week
extending
his
term
by
two
years
to
2030,
it
was
just
the
latest
example
of
the
resurgence
of a
worrying
trend
across
Africa
in
recent
years.
Since
the
beginning
of the
decade,
Africa
has
witnessed
several
unconstitutional
regime
changes,
and in
countries like
Mali, Burkina
Faso,
Niger,
Gabon,
and
Guinea,
the
emergence
of hard
coups
has
shattered
the
illusion
of
political
stability
on the
continent
in the
21st
century,
generating
hard
conversations
about
the
state of
democracy
on the
continent
overall.
Military
takeovers
in these
countries
have
enabled
soldiers
to
remove
civilian
governments
to the
applause
of
sizeable
swathes
of their
citizens
angered
by
governments
unwilling
or
unable
to
deliver
the
benefits
democracy
promises.
But
events
in
Zimbabwe
illustrate
a
classic
example
of
another
more
insidious
phenomenon
that is
undermining
African
countries,
that of
“soft
coups,"
which
instead
of
military
overthrow
erode
governance
through
the
practice
of
third-termism
and
constitutional
manipulation.
Both
Zimbabwe
and
Madagascar
are
examples
of
countries
where
leaders
have
employed
strategies
to
extend
their
tenures
by
altering
term
limits
or
manipulating
electoral
frameworks
to
ensure
winning.
Mnangagwa’s
constitutional
amendments,
abolishing
direct
presidential
elections
(the
president
will be
voted
for by
parliament
instead),
postponing
elections
until
2030,
and
extending
his
tenure,
despite
previous
assurances
that he
would
step
down
after
his
second
and
final
term,
are a
textbook
case of
so-called
"third-termism."
"Signed, sealed,
and
delivered
–
it
is
now
law,"
was
how
Mangwana
described
the
move
in
an
X
post.
Indications
that
Mnangagwa
had
changed
his
mind,
despite
fierce
opposition
by
civil
society
organisations,
human
rights
activists,
and
lawyers
as
well
as
opposition
politicians,
included
statements
by
his
ruling
ZANU-PF
party
over
the
past
few
years
that
the
president
needed
more
time
to
complete
his
work.
Mnangagwa
himself
came
into
office
in
2017
after
taking
power
in
what
was
a
coup
in
all
but
name,
ousting
long-time
incumbent
Robert
Mugabe
in
the
process.
