Party plans next move after calling for Mugabe to quit
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party yesterday called for President Robert Mugabe to resign, the latest sign that the ageing leader’s authority has collapsed after an army takeover.
The main state newspaper the Herald said Zanu-PF branches in all 10 provinces had met and had also called for Mugabe’s wife Grace, whose ambitions to succeed her husband triggered the unfolding political crisis, to resign from the party.
Mugabe appeared in public yesterday for the first time since the army took charge, as the ruling party made plans to force him to step down after almost four decades in power.
The President, who is 93, opened a graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University in Harare. He wore blue and yellow academic robes and a mortar board hat and appeared to fall asleep in his chair as his eyes closed and his head lolled.
Mugabe led the country’s liberation struggle and has dominated its politics since independence in 1980.
A senior member of the ruling Zanu-PF party said it wanted him gone.
“If he becomes stubborn, we will arrange for him to be fired on Sunday,” the source said.
“When that is done, it’s impeachment on Tuesday.”
The Herald reported that Zanu-PF was set to convene a special Central Committee meeting to “realign the revolutionary party with current political developments”.
The military, which seized power on Wednesday, has so far treated Mugabe carefully. It said in a statement on national television it was “engaging” with Mugabe, referred to him as Commander in Chief and said it would announce an outcome as soon as possible.
Zanu-PF has also called for a mass meeting in the capital today to show its support for the War Veterans group in its bid to remove Mugabe.
The veterans, Mugabe’s former comrades from the liberation war, who enjoyed a privileged position under his rule for decades, had chaffed in recent years as his wife Grace positioned herself to succeed him. They finally turned on him decisively after he sacked VicePresident Emmerson Mnangagwa last week.
The Herald yesterday said that Zanu-PF wanted Mnangagwa reinstated as vice-president because he was dismissed “without endorsement of the central committee”.
Many Zimbabweans suspect the military’s plan is to hand power to Mnangagwa, a long-serving Mugabe confidant and liberation war veteran nicknamed “the Crocodile”. If so, the generals may be waiting until Mnangagwa can be reinstated as vicepresident before arranging for Mugabe to resign.