EMBATTLED president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, might be fired by his party, the ZANU-PF, today, a move that may likely be followed by his impeachment on Tuesday, a top party source has stated.
This was as thousands of Zimbabweans, on Saturday, celebrated the expected downfall of Mugabe.
Hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of the capital singing, dancing and hugging soldiers in an outpouring of emotions, as Mugabe’s rule comes to an end. Some were captured on live television marching around his residence in the capital, Harare.
In scenes reminiscent of the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, men, women and children ran alongside the armoured cars and troops that stepped in this week to oust the only ruler Zimbabwe has known since independence in 1980.
The 93-year-old Mugabe has been under house arrest in his lavish ‘Blue Roof’ compound in Harare, from where he has watched support from his Zanu-PF party, security services and people evaporate in less than three days.
“These are tears of joy,” Frank Mutsindikwa, 34, told Reuters, holding aloft the Zimbabwean flag. “I’ve been waiting all my life for this day. Free at last. We are free at last.”
Mugabe’s downfall is likely to send shockwaves across Africa, where a number of entrenched strongmen, from Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila, are facing mounting pressure to step aside.
In another development, the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has promised that the African region was committed to supporting “the people of Zimbabwe” after the military takeover.
Zuma made the comments in the South African city of Durban, saying he was cautiously optimistic that the situation there could be resolved amicably.
Meanwhile, Mugabe’s nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, has reportedly said that the embattled president and his wife, Grace, were not ready to step down, saying they were “ready to die for what is correct.”
Zhuwao maintained that the duo had no intention of stepping down in order not to legitimise a ‘military coup.’
Speaking to Reuters from a secret location in South Africa, Zhuwao said Mugabe had hardly slept since the military seized power on Wednesday, but that his health was otherwise “good”.
NAN reported that Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party called on Friday for Mugabe to resign, the main state newspaper The Herald reported, the latest sign that the aging leader’s authority has collapsed after an army takeover.
The newspaper said that ZANU-PF branches in all 10 provinces had met on Friday and had also called for Mugabe’s wife Grace, whose ambitions to succeed her husband triggered the unfolding political crisis, to resign from the party.
Mugabe, wife ready to die, won’t step down, says nephew Party may sack him today
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace are “ready to die for what is correct” and have no intention of stepping down in order to legitimise this week’s military coup, his nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, said on Saturday.
Speaking to Reuters from a secret location in South Africa, Zhuwao said Mugabe had hardly slept since the military seized power on Wednesday, but his health was otherwise “good”.
Mugabe’s only public appearance since the military took over on Wednesday was at a university graduation ceremony on Friday morning. Decked out in blue and yellow academic gowns, he appeared tired, at one point falling asleep in his chair.
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