HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe’s ruling party fired Robert Mugabe as its
leader on Sunday and gave the 93-year-old less than 24 hours to quit as head of
state or face impeachment, an attempt to force a peaceful end to his 37 years
in power after a de facto coup.
Mugabe, the only leader the southern African nation has known since
independence from Britain in 1980, was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the
deputy he sacked this month in a move that triggered Tuesday’s intervention by
the army.
In scenes unthinkable just a week ago, the announcement was met by cheers
from the 200 delegates packed into ZANU-PF’s Harare headquarters to seal the
fate of Mugabe, whose support has crumbled in the four days since the army
seized power.
Mugabe was given until noon (1000 GMT) on Monday to resign or face
impeachment, an ignominious end to the career of the “Grand Old Man” of African
politics who was once feted across the continent as an anti-colonial liberation
hero.
Even in the West, he was renowned in his early years as the “Thinking
Man’s Guerrilla”, an ironic nickname for a man who would later proudly declare
he held a “degree in violence”.
As the economy crumbled and political opposition to his rule grew in the
late 1990s, Mugabe showed his true colours, seizing thousands of white-owned
farms, detaining opponents and unleashing security forces to crush dissent.
As the vote was announced, war veterans leader Chris Mutsvangwa, who has
spearheaded an 18-month campaign to remove a man he openly described as a
“dictator”, embraced colleagues and shouted: “The President is gone. Long live
the new President.”
Mugabe’s 52-year-old wife Grace, who had harboured ambitions of
succeeding her husband, was also expelled from the party, along with at least
three cabinet ministers who had formed the backbone of her ‘G40’ political
faction.
Speaking before the meeting, war veterans’ leader Chris Mutsvangwa said
the 93-year-old Mugabe was running out of time to negotiate his departure and
should leave the country while he could.
“He’s trying to bargain for a dignified exit,” he said.
Mutsvangwa followed up with threat to call for street protests if Mugabe
refused to go, telling reporters: “We will bring back the crowds and they will
do their business.”
Mnangagwa, a former state security chief known as “The Crocodile,” is now
in line to head an interim post-Mugabe unity government that will focus on
rebuilding ties with the outside world and stabilizing an economy in freefall.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of
Harare, singing, dancing and hugging soldiers in an outpouring of elation at
Mugabe’s expected overthrow. His stunning downfall in just four days 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 quit.
Hundreds of thousands of people had flooded the streets of Harare
singing, dancing and hugging soldiers in an outpouring of elation at Mugabe’s
demise, while others marched towards his residence.
In scenes reminiscent of the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae
Ceausescu in 1989, men, women and children ran alongside the armored cars and
the troops who stepped in this week to oust the only ruler Zimbabwe has known
since independence in 1980.
Under house arrest in his lavish ‘Blue Roof’ compound, he has watched
support from his ZANU-PF party, security services and people evaporate in less
than three days.
Mugabe’s nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, told Reuters the elderly leader and his
wife were “ready to die for what is correct” rather than step down in order to
legitimize what he described as a coup.
“TEARS OF JOY”
Speaking from a secret location in South Africa, Zhuwao said Mugabe had
hardly slept since the military took over but his health was otherwise “good.”
On Harare’s streets, Zimbabweans spoke of a second liberation for the
former British colony, alongside their dreams of political and economic change
after two decades of deepening repression and hardship.
“These are tears of joy,” said Frank Mutsindikwa, 34, 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.
The secretary-general of Zimbabwe’s War Veterans Association, Victor
Matemadanda, called on those at an anti-Mugabe rally to march on Mugabe’s
residence, and live television footage showed hundreds of protesters marching
in that direction.
“Let us now go and deliver the message that grandfather Mugabe and his
typist-cum-wife should go home,” Matemadanda told the crowd in the Harare
township of Highfield.
The crowds in Harare have so far given a quasi-democratic veneer to the
army’s intervention, backing its claims that it is merely effecting a
constitutional transfer of power, which would help it avoid the diplomatic
backlash and opprobrium that normally follows coups.
The military had been prompted to act by Mugabe’s decision to sack
Mnangagwa, Grace Mugabe’s main rival to succeed her husband. The next
presidential election is due next year.
Zimbabweans abroad were also awaiting the end of Mugabe’s rule. Hundreds
living in Britain gathered outside the country’s embassy in central London
calling on the leader to step aside.
“I am happy today because Bob Mugabe is about to go. He must go. At least
if he goes, we’ll have a change of president after so many years of injustice,”
said Florence, a 34-year-old who declined to give her last name.
NO DIS-GRACE
For some Africans, Mugabe remains a nationalist hero, the continent’s
last independence leader and a symbol of its struggle to throw off the legacy
of decades of colonial subjugation.
But to many more at home and abroad, he was reviled as a dictator happy
to resort to violence to retain power and to run a once-promising economy into
the ground.
Although Mugabe had been digging in his heels in the face of army
pressure to quit, he appeared to have run out of road, devoid of domestic or
international support.
Political sources and intelligence documents seen by Reuters said
Mugabe’s exit was likely to pave the way for an interim unity government led by
Mnangagwa, a life-long Mugabe aide and former security chief known as “The
Crocodile.”
Stabilizing the free-falling economy will be the number one priority, the
documents said.
The United States, a long-time Mugabe critic, said it was looking forward
to a “new era” in Zimbabwe, while President Ian Khama of neighboring Botswana
said Mugabe had no diplomatic support in the region and should resign at once.
In a sign of the depth of his demise, Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF called on
Friday for him to go, according to The Herald, the state newspaper that has
served as a loyal mouthpiece for nearly four decades.
ZANU-PF branches in all 10 provinces had also called for the resignation
of Mugabe’s wife Grace, the first lady whose ambitions to succeed her husband
outraged the military and much of the country.
To many Zimbabweans, Grace is more familiar as “Gucci Grace” on account
of her reported dedication to shopping, or - in the wake of the alleged assault
in September on a South African model - “Dis-Grace.”
STUBBORN
The scenes in Harare reflect the anger and frustration that has built up
in nearly two decades of economic mismanagement that started with the seizure
of white-owned farms in 2000, the catalyst of a wider collapse.
The central bank tried to print its way out of trouble by unleashing a
flood of cash but that only made matters worse, leading to hyperinflation that
topped out at 500 billion percent in 2008.
At least 3 million Zimbabweans emigrated in search of a better life, most
of them to neighboring South Africa.
After stabilizing briefly when Mugabe was forced to work with the
opposition in a 2009-2013 unity government, the economy has collapsed again, this
time due to a chronic shortage of dollars in the country of 16 million people.
In October, monthly inflation leapt to more than 50 percent, putting
basic goods beyond the means of many in a country with 90 percent unemployment.
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.
A senior member of the ZANU-PF ruling party said it was only a matter of
time before he agreed to his own departure.
“If he becomes stubborn, we will arrange for him to be fired on Sunday,”
the source said. “When that is done, it’s impeachment on Tuesday.”
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