Mahiya also claimed that had Mnangagwa been less principled, ZANU PF could have declared a state of emergency to extend his rule, citing the sanctions imposed on the country as akin to a declaration of war by Western powers.

Mahiya made comments during the launch of a War Veterans Fund and empowerment programme in Bulawayo on Saturday. Said Mahiya:

We were sanctioned by the West. That’s a sign that we are in a war. When a country has sanctions, when people are in a war, they can stop going for elections because they are in a war and declare a state of emergency.

Mnangagwa is a proper, listening, educated leader, but if the country was under someone else, we could have declared that ‘we are in a state of emergency and there are no elections.’ Then we would remove Mnangagwa from power only if he died…

The leadership we want is not one of a person who is highly educated or who has a character that we don’t know.

We want a leader who has a character and hunhu that we know, and that has been shown by Mnangagwa in the period that he has been running the country. He can extend his term so that the population can benefit.

So if you refuse, we have the right, although forbidden by the law, to act otherwise to stop you indefinitely from saying such things.

Mahiya warned war veterans not to believe that their participation in the liberation struggle grants them the authority to oppose plans to extend Mnangagwa’s term, especially when the majority support it. He said:

It doesn’t give you power, if you do not follow what people want, your going to Zambia and being a war veteran will be useless. You won’t have standing because you are ganging against the people.

I don’t expect, as the secretary of war veterans, to hear any other war veteran say the opposite because the party’s constitution says our duty as the league is to protect the interests of the party and its leadership, which is the resolution that was made here in Bulawayo. That is the interest of the party, and we also protect the leadership.

A resolution from the ZANU PF National People’s Conference in Bulawayo last year called for amending the Constitution to extend Mnangagwa’s second and final term until 2030.