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OpenMnangagwa's Office Dismisses Allegations Of Plans To Extend Term Beyond 2028
The Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) has refuted a story published by a daily newspaper, which claimed that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has turned to structures outside the official ZANU PF framework to violate the Constitution and extend his term in office beyond 2028.
In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, the OPC described the story as slanderous and “calculated to undermine national cohesion while placing the President in disesteem.”
The OPC has given the publication seven days to retract the story, warning that “failure which the Office reserves the right to initiate and institute legal proceedings as appropriately provided for at law.” Reads the statement:
The Office of the President and Cabinet expresses very deep concern about a slanderous story in today’s News Day, “Mnangagwa turns to parallel structures”.
The article falsely and maliciously creates the impression that the State President, His Excellency Dr ED Mnangagwa, is hell-bent on breaching the National Constitution by extending his term limit “via the back door”, beyond what is provided for under the country’s supreme law.
Further, the article slanderously suggests the President is employing guile and duplicity to achieve the alleged unconstitutional goal, including enlisting “parallel structures” outside of the ruling ZANU PF arms, for the same alleged goal.
NewsDay imputes disharmony and disquiet within the ruling ZANU PF, and in security structures, as a result.
These are very serious allegations against the State President by the newspaper, which are calculated to undermine national cohesion while placing the President in disesteem.
Repeatedly, the President has been on public record stating and re-stating in person that he has no intention or ambition to serve beyond the term which the National Constitution mandates for the Presidency.
The local media, including NewsDay, have covered his pronouncements which remain un-rescinded and unchanged to this day.
The Office can only surmise that today’s article was inspired by the urge to slander the Head of State and to undermine national cohesion and stability by spreading alarm and despondency through such falsehoods.
Views of individuals and interest groups exercising their freedom of expression by ventilating their personal or collective opinions respectively, on any national issue, including the National Constitution, cannot be imputed on the President, or be treated as reversing earlier, repeated pronouncements by the President.
The ZANU PF Constitution provides for affiliate groups and interests, and thus can never be labelled as “parallel structures”.
The Office demands that the Editor of NewsDay retracts the defamatory story within seven publishing days, failure which the Office reserves the right to initiate and institute legal proceedings as appropriately provided for at law.
For the record, the Office reminds the Editor that this is the second time within a relatively short space of time that his paper is publishing falsehoods against the His Excellency the President.
While the Office respects freedoms granted to the media by the Country’s Constitution, it is very clear that flagrantly publishing and circulating falsehoods is not protected by the laws of the country, and makes any convicted offender liable.
More: Pindula News
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