Dancing in streets as Mugabe finally quits
THOUSANDS of jubilant Zimbabweans poured on to the streets last night after Robert Mugabe stepped down from power.
Amid extraordinary scenes, people draped themselves in flags and hugged soldiers from the once hated and feared army – a week after Mugabe’s generals turned against the despot.
‘We used to get beaten by these soldiers here, even if our car broke down,’ said Innocent Matenda, a street vendor, as thousands gathered outside the parliament building in the capital Harare. ‘But it turns out that they have saved us and they are heroes.’
The unprecedented scenes of joy, with people being driven round on car bonnets, while others danced and some wept over their dead, came after the end of Mugabe’s rule was announced in parliament. To cheers from MPs, including those from Mugabe’s own Zanu-PF party, his resignation statement was read out, announcing: ‘I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, in terms of section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe, hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect.
‘My decision to resign is voluntary on my part.
‘It arises from my concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power that underpins national security, peace and stability.’
While some politicians danced in parliament, a man wearing a crisp white shirt silently walked up to a portrait of Mugabe hanging from a wall and took it down.
Another official then produced another picture – of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the ruthless former Mugabe loyalist who masterminded the coup – and put it where the former president’s had been. The move was charged with symbolism: Mnangagwa, 75, a former head of Mugabe’s feared intelligence wing, is expected to be announced as the new president within 48 hours. The resignation was welcomed around the world.
The US, a long time Mugabe critic, called for new free and fair elections.
In the capital, Andrew Mucharawu, 26, watched as the streets filled with cars and tens of thousands of dancing residents.
‘I can’t believe it,’ he told me. ‘This is the only president I had my whole life. Mugabe was old and incapable, he read the wrong pages from speeches, and wasn’t capable of ruling. This is one of the great days in our history.’
As strangers came up to hug me and shake hands, all were able to speak openly for the first time about how much they hated and despised Mugabe, who has ruined a once prosperous country which exported food to the rest of the world. ‘We were reduced to worthless people under Mugabe,’ said Yeukai Magwari, 33.
‘I am so happy that Mugabe is gone – 37 years under a dictatorship is not a joke,’ added Tinashe Chakanetsa, 18.
After a week under house arrest, Mugabe was last night reunited with his wife Grace. Both have been given immunity from prosecution.
Mugabe, who is worth an estimated $4 billion, will also be allowed to keep Zim One, his official bullet-proof Mercedes Benz, along with his palace and 13 farms he seized from white owners. He will also be flown abroad for medical treatment by the air force. More than 250 Mugabe loyalists
‘One of the great days in our history’
were captured, detained and tortured after the coup. Many were allowed to leave the country ahead of yesterday’s resignation.
But last night, it emerged that the country’s new rulers were planning to ‘weed out’ those suspected of acting against them.
Mnangagwa served for decades as Mugabe’s enforcer – a role that gave him a reputation for being astute, ruthless and effective at manipulating the levers of power.
A leading government figure since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, he became vice president in 2014 and is so widely known as the ‘Crocodile’ that his supporters are called Team Lacoste, after the brand’s crocodile logo.