Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he would step down after his second term, dismissing the rumours about a tenure extension.

Asked to speak on calls for his tenure extension to 2030, Mr Mnangagwa said, “I have two terms, and these terms are very definite, and I am so democratic; when they come to an end, I will step aside, and my party will elect a successor. That’s as clear as day.”

Mr Mnangagwa, whose second term in office ends in 2028, disclosed this in a briefing at the State House with newspaper editors on Monday.

His statement dismisses reports and pressure to extend his tenure in office to 2030.

Mr Mnangagwa assumed office as Zimbabwe’s third president after former President Robert Mugabe was ousted in a coup in 2017.

He was later elected a substantive president in 2018. In 2023, he won reelection for a second term that will end by 2028.