“Scrap It or Face the Fallout”: Veterans Give Parliament 72 Hours to Kill CAB3
By Desire Tshuma
HARARE – War veterans and citizens have given Speaker Jacob Mudenda and Senate President Mabel Chinomona 72 hours to halt and nullify Constitution Amendment Bill No. 3. They describe its passage as “fundamentally flawed, substantively unconstitutional, and procedurally fraudulent.”
The demand came in an open letter stamped by Parliament security on 25 June 2026. The group says it writes as defenders of the Constitution and as veterans “whose selfless sacrifices brought about the liberation of this country.”
They argue that the reading, debate and purported passage of CAB3 amounts to a “grave assault on the supreme law of Zimbabwe.” At the centre of the dispute is Section 328, which sets the bar for amending the Constitution. The signatories allege CAB3 was a deliberate attempt to undermine those protections.
They also accuse Parliament’s presiding officers of allowing 210 MPs to vote while lawsuits filed by voters were still pending. Those voters say extending parliamentary terms cannot benefit sitting MPs without a referendum. By proceeding anyway, the letter claims MPs showed “flagrant disregard for the rule of law.”
The veterans say Parliament had tools to stop it but did not use them. They cite Standing Orders on ad hoc committees, investigations and contempt proceedings. Instead, they allege, the vote went ahead “as if a constitutional amendment can be washed clean by pretending not to smell the sewage.”
The letter also flags the omission of consequential amendments and alleged corruption linked to the Bill. It says Parliament failed to grasp the “catastrophic constitutional consequences” of Amendment No. 3.
The group wants all CAB3 proceedings suspended immediately, with no presentation for presidential assent. It wants the National Assembly vote declared invalid. It also wants the Senate to stop any debate or vote until the issues are investigated.
CAB3 is now one of the most contested Bills in this Parliament. The ultimatum piles pressure on Mudenda and Chinomona as the Bill nears its final stages. Parliament had not responded publicly at the time of publication.
