Process had begun to impeach president
He had lost his grip on the ruling party, where factional feuding reached a boiling point with the dismissal of Mnangagwa and the open ambitions of Mugabe’s wife, Grace, to take over from her husband in a dynastic succession that many Zimbabweans found abhorrent.
The military said it intervened to target “criminals” around Mugabe, and Mukonori focused on talks with generals aimed at resolving the political crisis, shuttling among the president’s private residence, the presidential office at State House and military barracks.
Mnangagwa, who has close ties to the military and had fled Zimbabwe, was the “one figure missing” in the talks, Mukonori said.
Hours before Mugabe’s Nov. 19 speech, the priest said, Mugabe spoke to Mnangagwa for 10 minutes by telephone and implored his former deputy to return, saying: “‘Emmerson, come back now, now, now. Let’s deal with this issue.’ ”
Mugabe “had to change his mind because Emmerson did not turn up,” said Mukonori, who worked with several other mediators in the government.
The next day, Mnangagwa said publicly that he could not return to Zimbabwe because he feared for his life and urged Mugabe to resign immediately. On Tuesday, Zimbabwe’s parliament began impeachment proceedings against Mugabe, who called Jacob Mudenda, the parliamentary speaker, to say he wanted to resign.
The president worried, according to Mukonori, that “‘they think I’m now resigning in order to stop the meeting, as if I have something to hide.’ ”
When Mugabe finally signed his resignation letter, he had an expression of relief, as though to say, “‘It’s done,’ ” the priest said.
Grace Mugabe, 52, had a peripheral role in the talks leading to her husband’s resignation, only participating “when it was necessary for her to come, when she was called,” Mukonori said. On one occasion, she told an inquiring Mugabe that she was not involved in a statement critical of the military that has landed two leaders of the ruling party’s youth league in jail.
The mediator said Grace Mugabe is “aware” of her role in triggering the momentous events in Zimbabwe but doesn’t believe it is “all” her fault.
Zimbabwean ruling party officials have assured Mugabe that he won’t be prosecuted and that “his family is safe,” according to a senior party official, Lovemore Matuke. Mukonori didn’t discuss the details of any guarantees.
The priest chuckled when asked whether Mugabe will stay in Zimbabwe.
“Where would he go?” he said. “He would die here.”