Cathy Buckle: Zim’s icy July - mass deportations and a Constitutional coup

Cathy Buckle's latest letter from Zimbabwe captures a nation on edge. As an unusual cold snap grips the country, President Mnangagwa has quietly signed sweeping Constitutional Amendments into law without a public referendum — scrapping direct presidential elections, extending terms to seven years, and centralizing power over the judiciary and electoral bodies. The changes have sparked plans for mass action from churches, unions, and opposition groups. Meanwhile, nearly 100,000 Zimbabweans have been deported or repatriated from South Africa in six weeks amid xenophobic harassment. Amid the turmoil, Buckle also previews her new annual photobook celebrating Zimbabwe's untouched beauty..By Cathy Buckle.Just when we thought we were having a strangely warm winter with blue sky sunny days and cold nights, an icy blast blew in the back door. White frost spread its frozen crystals everywhere, and daytime temperatures dropped to 19 degrees and 5 degrees at night. A slender mongoose came up the steps to my front door, stopped, looked straight at me reading my new book and then ran across the lawn, fur fluffed up, looking for a little spot in the sun. But it isn’t only winter that’s giving Zimbabwe an icy blast this July.Since my last Letter, while our attention was on thousands of Zimbabweans being deported and repatriated from South Africa, President Mnangagwa was signing the controversial Constitutional Amendments into law. The Act was published in the Government Gazette on the 7th July 2026, and Zimbabweans were not given their right to vote in a Referendum.These are dark days in Zimbabwe. Under the new Constitutional Amendments, the President will no longer be elected by the people but by Parliament. Presidential and parliamentary terms have increased from five to seven years, leaving the current President, MPs and Senators in office until 2030. The Senate will be expanded from 80 to 90 members, with 10 new Senators appointed by the President. Public interviews for Judges have been scrapped, and they will now be appointed by the President with consultation. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission will no longer oversee voter registration; this will now be done by the Registrar-General, and a new Delimitation Commission, appointed by the President, will take over the delimitation of constituencies and wards.President Mnangagwa said in the Sunday Mail that extending this second term by two years, from 2028 to 2030, was not his idea; it was “a collective evolution of the political process.” A coalition of churches, labour unions, civic groups, war veterans and opposition political leaders say they are now planning peaceful mass action to challenge the Act.Meanwhile, we watched increasingly distressing video clips of people being deported and others who were ‘voluntarily repatriating’ from South Africa to escape harassment and persecution from protestors in South Africa who were going door to door chasing them out. Two weeks ago, the number was 29,000 deported and repatriating. This week the government said that between the 28th of May and 10th of July 99,418 Zimbabweans have been repatriated. A staggering number in just 6 weeks..Read more:.Kenneth Kgwadi on Zim’s constitutional amendment: Time to rethink how power works, not just who gets it.Watching for the return of the mongoose, I paged through the proof copy of my beautiful new photobook which has just arrived. Despite everything, from power-hungry politicians to the anguish of 100,000 people coming home in an icy winter, every year I publish my annual photobook to highlight the other face of Zimbabwe, beautiful, diverse and always welcoming.This year my new photobook has pictures and stories from Chimanimani, Nyanga, Mavhuradonha, Gonarezhou, Umfurudzi ,Marondera, Darwendale, Mazowe and others. From the beautiful winged antlion on my back door to the huge elephants going for an afternoon swim in the river, this is our beautiful country. Thank you all for your support of my photobooks over the last five years, the everyday, off-the-beaten-track memories that make us so love this country. “Zimbabwe’s Timeless Beauty The 2026 Collection” is available now in hardback or paperback from https://cathybuckle.co.zw/ or https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/cathybuckle2018If you would like to support Cathy’s writing and donate, please visit her website - https://cathybuckle.co.zw/.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Cathy Buckle: Zim’s icy July - mass deportations and a Constitutional coup

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