HARARE – The Zanu PF youth league has come in out guns blazing against war veterans who have aproposed a controversial constitutional
amendment of the presidential age limit — aimed at blocking opposition leader Nelson Cha miss from participating in both the 2023 and 2028 elections.
The country’s current Constitution allowsd anyone  plebiscite, but war vets want to revise the law and set the entry age limit at 52 years.
Chamisa, who narrowly lost to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the hotly-disputed July 30 polls, turns 41 in February next year — meaning that he would not be eligible to contest the 2023 and 2028 polls if the proposal by the war  is adopted.
Dismissing the idea, the Zanu PF youth league said yesterday it was “retrogressive” and an assault
next on a positive democratic culture which Mnangagwa’s government was trying to engender in the country.
“We believe that the correct position comes form the party (Zanu PF) … and the truth of the matter is that there is nothing like that from the party. Party issues are communicated by SK (Simon
Khaya) Moyo.
“We respect the war veterans association … but it doesn’t mean that we must agree with all they
believe in. Youths constitute the largest
percentage of the population and this is also the largest age group of people who vote and you rcannot tell them not to participate in the
country’s politics,” Lewis Matutu, the deputy secretary of the Zanu PF youth league said.
This comes after war veterans secretary-general, Victor Matemadanda, stirred the hornet’s nest on Tuesday when he repeated what the Daily News had correctly reported in August, that former
freedom fighters wanted a constitutional amendment revising the age limit of aspiring presidential candidates from 40 to 52 years.