Zimbabwe's ousted vice-president calls for Mugabe to quit

APD NEWS

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Robert Mugabe’s most likely successor, the ousted vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, has broken more than a week of silence to call for the 93-year-old leader to “accept the will of the people” and step down immediately.

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party is expected to begin impeachment proceedings in parliament on Tuesday in an attempt to strip Mugabe of the presidency, as the political crisis triggered by a military takeover moves into a second week. Mugabe is accused of allowing his wife, Grace Mugabe, to “usurp constitutional power”.

Zimbabwean vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa pictured in 2016

Mnangagwa, a veteran of the liberation war and for decades Mugabe’s right-hand man, fled into exile earlier this month after being ousted from his position in government and Zanu-PF by a faction allied to the president’s wife.

In a written statement, which gave no clue to his whereabouts, Mnangagwa said he had fled Zimbabwe after he was warned by security officials that “plans were underfoot to eliminate me”.

His supporters are widely believed to be behind the military’s takeover of power. Zanu-PF has named him as the party’s new leader and nominee to take over as president if Mugabe steps down or is impeached.

Mnangagwa said he had spoken to Mugabe, and told him he needed to resign because huge demonstrations in Harare on Saturday, and the party vote against him, showed he no longer had a popular mandate.

“Mugabe has always said that if the people don’t want him he will leave office, now that they have spoken he must now accept the will of the people and resign,” the statement said.

Mnangagwa also made what appeared to be an appeal to opposition politicians and their supporters. Other senior figures in the party had insisted Mugabe’s departure was an internal party matter that would be handled by Zanu alone.

Zimbabwe timeline: the week that led to Mugabe's detention

  • 6 November 2017 Mugabe fires vice president: Robert Mugabe fires his powerful vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, clearing the way for his wife, Grace, to succeed him as leader of Zimbabwe. Grace had accused 75-year-old Mnangagwa, a former intelligence chief, of being the “root cause of factionalism” in the ruling Zanu-PF party.

  • 8 November 2017 Mnangagwa defiant: Mnangagwa reportedly flees to South Africa, but vows to return to Zimbabwe to lead party members. The party "is not personal property for you and your wife to do as you please," Mnangagwa tells Mugabe in an angry five-page statement.

  • 13 November 2017 Army chief issues warning: Zimbabwe’s army chief demands a halt to the purge in Zanu-PF, and warns that the military could intervene. “We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,” General Constantino Chiwenga told a media conference attended by about 90 senior army officers.

  • 14 November 2017 Army denies coup: A convoy of tanks is seen moving on the outskirts of the Zimbabwean capital but the military denies a coup. In an overnight declaration on state television, they say Mugabe is safe and they are "only targeting criminals around him".

  • 15 November 2017 Mugabe detained: Military vehicles take control of the streets of Harare in the early hours. South Africa says Mugabe has told its president, Jacob Zuma, by telephone that he is under house arrest but is "fine".

Laying out his vision for a “new Zimbabwe”, Mnangagwa said it was a national, not a party political project.

“In that new Zimbabwe it is important for everyone to join hands so that we rebuild this nation to its full glory. This is not a job for Zanu PF alone but for all people of Zimbabwe.”

Mnangagwa, who is known as “the Crocodile” from his time fighting in the country’s liberation wars, orchestrated repeated crackdowns on Zimbabwe’s opposition under Mugabe’s rule. He said he would return home “as soon as the right conditions for security and stability prevail”, but did not give any further details of when that might be.

Robert Mugabe addressing the nation at the State House in Harare, on 19 November.

Mugabe had been given a deadline of noon local time on Monday to resign as head of state or face impeachment but he ignored the deadline and instead called a cabinet meeting for 9am on Tuesday. A notice from his chief secretary said all ministers should attend.

Adding to the confusion, Constantino Chiwenga, the army chief who took power last week, held a press conference at which he described further consultations with “his excellency President Robert Mugabe” held in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Chiwenga said on Monday that Mnangagwa would return to Zimbabwe shortly and was in touch with the president.

The general made no mention of the potential impeachment of Mugabe, who was stripped of his party offices by Zanu-PF on Sunday.

A draft impeachment motion published by Zanu-PF said the ageing leader was a “source of instability” who had shown disrespect for the rule of law and was to blame for an unprecedented economic tailspin over the past 15 years.

Although Zanu-PF has the required two-thirds majority in parliament necessary to remove Mugabe, the arrest or flight of some MPs may mean the support of opposition parties is needed for the impeachment motion to pass.

Lawmakers from Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), will hold a meeting on Tuesday to decide whether to join Zanu-PF to impeach Mugabe, according to officials.

David Coltart, the MDC’s secretary for legal affairs, said he supported the move in principle. “I have long felt he should have been impeached for what he has done of the last decades and for how he has violated the constitution,” he said.

Mugabe stunned the southern African country by failing to resign as expected in a televised speech on Sunday night. Instead, his rambling address offered no substantial concessions to the tens of thousands of people who have marched calling for his resignation, though it did exonerate the army commanders who led the military takeover last week.

The autocrat called for compatriots to avoid “bitterness or revengefulness, which would not make us any better … Zimbabweans”, and said he would preside over a special congress of the ruling Zanu-PF party scheduled for next month.

An array of senior commanders sat beside Mugabe as he made his speech. Chiwenga turned the president’s pages as he spoke.

Chiwenga said the veterans would call for further protests – including a sit-in outside Mugabe’s Harare residence, where he is being held under house arrest – if the president did not heed calls to quit.

It is unclear how long the procedure to impeach the president might take but it is likely to last several days. Both houses of the Zimbabwean parliament will have to sit at least twice, with the impeachment motion also going to a committee of senators. If it is passed, Mugabe, who as president is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, would then be reduced to the status of any other citizen.

Grace Mugabe, 52, has not been seen since the takeover. Sources told the Guardian she was in her husband’s Harare residence when he was detained on Tuesday and had not moved since.

Who is Emmerson Mnangagwa?

Emmerson Mnangagwa was Zimbabwe's powerful vice-president until 6 November, when he was fired by Robert Mugabe.

The 75-year-old former intelligence chief had been locked in a battle with the first lady, Grace Mugabe, to succeed her husband as president. In October she publicly denied poisoning him after he fell ill at a rally in August.

After his sacking, which was seen as an attempt to clear Grace Mugabe's path to power, Mnangagwa fled to South Africa. He reportedly returned on 14 November as the military prepared to take over the country, and is firm favourite to become Zimbabwe's next leader.

He has strong support within the security establishment and among veterans of Zimbabwe’s 1970s guerrilla war, when he earned the nickname “the crocodile”.

Despite allegations about his role in atrocities in the 1980s, much of the international community has long seen him as being the most likely figure in Zimbabwe to guarantee a stable transition and implement economic reforms.

(THE GUARDIAN)