00:00Jen, how did this vote to amend the Constitution really come about?
00:06Well, Abir, this really dates back to a few years ago and a few actions that were seemingly kicked off
00:12by the ZANU-PF ruling party that has been in power since democracy back in 1980.
00:19Now, really what we saw at the time was a proposal by the ZANU-PF party to extend the president's
00:24rule because of what they said.
00:26They were pleased with the progress he's made in a short space of time.
00:30What we saw after that, that was back in about 2024. Late 2025, the resolution was eventually taken up and
00:38it was ordered for the government to take the necessary steps to enact the decision.
00:43Despite the fact that really some of these proposals are supposed to be up, put up for a referendum.
00:49But again, ZANU-PF party has been in power for a number of years and so they continue to push
00:54this forward.
00:55Now we are at the point where you were just mentioning there late on Thursday, we did see a majority
01:00of lawmakers approving this decision.
01:03And really the question now is, will the president sign this into law?
01:08The expectation is that this will move forward, laying the groundwork for his term to be extended into 2030.
01:15But still a lot of questions about what this means for Zimbabwe and really what this means again for the
01:21continent more broadly, where we're seeing a lot of similar actions being taken about.
01:27And so the reaction to this, both internally and externally, what is the expectation of that to be?
01:35It's going to be twofold, Abeer, and we're already seeing that play out.
01:39If you take a look at the African continent, a number of leaders across the continent are among the oldest
01:46leaders in the world.
01:47Of course, we can look at a number of countries globally that make up the top 10 list if you
01:52were to look at that.
01:52But still, what we've seen over the past few years is really a number of countries have chosen to amend
01:58their constitutions, extending some of these leaders who have been in power for a number of decades.
02:04And I'm talking about presidents such as the president of Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, and also Malawi.
02:10That, of course, coming on a continent, across a continent that has among the youngest populations in the world.
02:18And so it's going to be taken, depending on which population you're talking to, it's going to be taken a
02:24bit differently.
02:25From an investor perspective, and I've even anecdotally heard this from a few leaders, if you do see some of
02:31these older leaders staying into power,
02:33on one hand, it is a sense of continuity for investors.
02:37Perhaps it reduces election risk.
02:39But on the other hand, for Zimbabwe in particular, that has been shut out from global markets for a number
02:46of years,
02:47it could continue to raise questions about governance, accountability, and really what protections and safeguarding of the economy and the
02:56government more broadly looks like going forward.
02:58But still, we'll wait to see whether or not President Manangagwa will sign this into law.
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