Zimbabweans chant ‘Mugabe must go’, march to his residence
Zimbabweans celebrating the expected fall of President RobertMugabemarchedtowards his residence in the capital Harare on Saturday as the country prepared to oust its leader of the last 37 years.
Earlierintheday,tensofthousandsofpeoplefloodedthestreets of the capital singing, dancing and hugging soldiers in an outpouring of elation as Mugabe’s rule comes to an end.
In scenes reminiscent of the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, men, women and children ran alongside the armoured cars and troopsthatsteppedinthisweekto ousttheonlyrulerZimbabwehas known since independence in 1980.The93-year-oldMugabehas been under house arrest in his lavish ‘Blue Roof’ compound in Harare, from where he has watched support from his Zanu-PFparty,securityservices andpeopleevaporateinlessthan three days.
EmotionsranoveronHarare’s streetsasZimbabweansspokeof asecondliberationfortheformer British colony, alongside their dreamsofpoliticalandeconomic changeaftertwodecadesofdeepening repression and hardship.
“Thesearetearsofjoy,”Frank
HARARE:
Mutsindikwa, 34, told Reuters, holding aloft the Zimbabwean flag. “I’ve beenwaitingallmylife 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,fromUganda’sYoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila,arefacingmountingpres- sureto step aside. Thesecretarygeneral of Zimbabwe’s War Veterans Association, Victor Matemadanda, called on those at an anti-Mugabe rally to march on Mugabe’sresidence,andlivetelevisionfootageshowedhundreds of protesters marching in that direction.
“Letusnowgoanddeliverthe message that grandfather Mugabe and his typist-cum-wife shouldgohome,”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 merelyeffecting aconstitutional transfer of power, which would helpitavoidthediplomaticbacklash and opprobrium that normally follows coups.