Zimbabweans relieved at Mugabe’s removal – but anxious about future
ON HARARE’S streets yesterday, many expressed amazement and delight that President Robert Mugabe’s long reign may be coming to a close, but people also admitted the future looked unstable.
Mugabe, 93, has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980 – longer than many can remember – and the sudden move against him by the military left some hoping that his repressive regime would soon fall.
“We are happy with what has been done,” Keresenzia Moyo, 65, a housewife said. “We need change. Our situation has been pathetic. The economy has been in the doldrums for a very long time.
“What is good is that this has happened at the top and it is not affecting us people on the ground. People could be killing each other.”
Moyo didn’t care if Mugabe left the country unhindered despite his tenure being marked by brutal repression of dissent, corruption and election rigging.
Mugabe, who is under house arrest after the military took control, led Zimbabwe to independence. But his decades in power have turned a country known as the breadbasket of Africa into an economic basket case, where many go hungry.
“What we want is for our children to be able to get jobs and live a normal happy life,” Moyo said. “We want to have food on the table, not one side having everything and others dying of hunger.Now we need a fresh start.”
Zimbabwe’s military has denied staging a coup, saying Mugabe was still president.
“We don’t know what this all means and we don’t know what to do,” Karen Mvelani, 21, a student, said. “We need some kind of direction on where we are heading.”
The impact of the political developments was limited in Harare, with many people attending street markets, catching minibuses to work or lining up outside banks as normal.
The economic crisis has caused a severe cash shortage and sharply rising prices, which many Zimbabweans blame Mugabe for.
“He was a liability because he was focusing on his leadership, he was a dictator,” said Tafadzwa Masango, 35, an unemployed man. “Our economic situation deteriorated every day – no employment, no jobs.
“We hope for a better Zimbabwe after the Mugabe era. We feel very happy. It is now his time to go.”
Mugabe sacked vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa last week, seemingly provoking the military, which reportedly opposed First Lady Grace Mugabe’s emergence as the likely next president.
Precious Shumba, director of Harare Residents Trust action group, said Zimbabwe was entering a new era.
“Now at least we break with the past,” she said. “My wish is that they immediately announce a transitional government and state clearly when the country will have the next elections. We need a transitional government to rid the country of the toxic politics of patronage.” — AFP