FORMER Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has saluted late Zanu PF Central Committee member, Blessed Runesu Geza, for standing up against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s reported bid to extend his term to 2030.

Geza died Friday morning in exile in South Africa after fleeing Zimbabwe amid rising tensions over his opposition to the 2030 agenda.

The outspoken liberation struggle stalwart led a group of war veterans and some party members in publicly calling Mnangagwa to order over the issue.

In his condolence message to the Geza family, posted on his X account Saturday, Chamisa vowed to resist the bid to extend Mnangagwa?s presidency, saying the fire Geza started would not be extinguished and that the term-extension plan would not see the light of day.

?CDE GEZA…You broke rank. You saw the light and lit the way. A flame kindled that will never fade, only grow. The flame you kindled will forever glow and grow into a bonfire. You did your bit and sparked a flame no darkness can quench. The light lives on.

?There shall be no extension of anything!!! Your declaration stands,? Chamisa said.

The 48-year-old opposition politician, who went on a sabbatical after his party, the CCC, was hijacked by Zanu PF through its Trojan horse Sengezo Tshabangu, announced his return to active politics late last month.

At the top of his agenda, he says, is opposing any move to extend Mnangagwa’s tenure to 2030.

Renowned lawyer and University of Zimbabwe lecturer Professor Lovemore Madhuku joined Chamisa in honouring Geza for his stance against the 2030 agenda.

?Rest in peace Cde Blessed Bombshell Geza. My condolences to your family and comrades. In your memory and honour, the attempts to amend the Constitution to extend the President?s term to 2030 will be fought and defeated,? Madhuku wrote on his X account on Saturday.

Representing an alternative youth voice in Zimbabwe and across the region, former Tshabalala MP Gift Ostallos Siziba said Geza had done his part, particularly during the liberation struggle, and that the youth were determined to usher in a new form of governance aligned with the aspirations of those who sacrificed for Zimbabwe’s independence.

?He ran his race with courage and spoke truth to power. Those who remain, it is now our duty, as we have always maintained, to complete the unfinished business of the liberation struggle and to give real meaning to the sacrifice of all who gave their lives for our country’s independence.?

Geza fought on the front line during the liberation struggle.

He called for protests against the 2030 agenda on 31 March 2025, which ultimately turned into a stay-away. Nevertheless, the message, like a pebble cast into a still pond, rippled across the nation.

Prior to this, Geza addressed various press briefings where he called for Mnangagwa to step down, largely on the grounds that he had failed to curb the scourge of corruption.

While in exile, he continued issuing briefings and spoke vehemently against controversial business figures such as Wicknell Chivayo, Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Delish Nguwaya and Pedzisai ?Scott? Sakupwanya.

However, controversial Zanu PF activist Rutendo Matinyarare claimed Geza’s death was linked to what he described as the controversial poltician?s decision to “touch the sacred subject” of 2030, which he equated with going against the country.

?After trying to destabilize Zimbabwe through regime-change protests following the country?s removal from 24 years of sanctions, Blessed Geza has died before achieving his diabolical objective of trying to ignite protests for Western intervention.

?Similarly, in 2008, Levi Mwanawasa died after a heart attack at an African Union meeting where he was working to galvanize a Western invasion to remove Mugabe. Zimbabwe is a sacred nation; touch it not,? he wrote on social media Friday.

As efforts gather pace to challenge the 2030 agenda, Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi recently confirmed that a draft Bill related to extending Mnangagwa’s term would be tabled before Cabinet and later submitted to Parliament.

Zanu PF passed a resolution at its 2024 annual conference in Bulawayo calling for Mnangagwa’s term to be extended. The resolution, which was adopted as the first item of business at the conference, placed the issue at the centre of the party’s deliberations.

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