Mugabe calls cabinet meeting despite revolt
Zimbabwe’ s ruling party on Monday ordered impeachment proceedings to begin against longtime President Robert Mugabe and expressed confidence that he could be voted out within two days, while the world’s oldest head of state ignored the party’ s mid day deadline to resign and instead summoned ministers to a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The ruling ZANU-PF party’s deputy secretary for legal affairs Paul Mangwa na said lawmakers would move a motion for impeachment on Tuesday and set up a parliamentary committee, and on Wednesday the committee would report back to all lawmakers and“we vote him out .”
The main charge against the 93-year-old Mugabe is “allowing his wife to usurp government powers” and that “he is too old and cannot even walk without help ,” Mangwa na told reporters.
He said the ruling party needs the backing of the MDC opposition group to have enough votes in Parliament but “we have talked to them and they are supporting us.”
Zimbabweans were stunned by Mugabe’s defiance during a national address Sunday night in which the increasingly isolated president, put under military house arrest last week, had been expected to step down. Mugabe did acknowledge“a whole range of concerns” about the chaotic state of the government and the economy, which has collapsed since he took power after independence from white minority rule in 1980.
A notice by Mug abe’ s chief secretary announced Tuesday morning’s Cabinet meeting at State House and said all ministers “should attend.” AP