Party fires Mugabe, picks VP to lead
harare — Zimbabwe’s ruling party Central Committee fired longtime President Robert Mugabe as party leader on Sunday, saying if he doesn’t resign as the country’s leader by noon on Monday, it will begin impeachment proceedings when parliament resumes the following day.
Clinging to his now virtually powerless post, Mugabe discussed his expected exit with the army commander who put him under house arrest days ago, in a second round of negotiations. But the world’s oldest head of state was increasingly isolated in his lavish mansion, with allies departing, arrested or, like his wife, now expelled from the ruling party.
Members of the ZANU-PF party’s Central Committee stood, cheered and sang as Mugabe was recalled. Meeting chair Obert Mpofu referred to him as “outgoing president” and called it a “sad day” for Mugabe after 37 years in power. The meeting replaced Mugabe as party chief with the vice-president whose firing nearly two weeks ago led the military to step in, and recalled the unpopular first lady Grace Mugabe as head of the women’s league.
The party said that former vicepresident Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking sparked a military takeover earlier this week, would be its candidate for president in elections scheduled for 2018. “Mnangagwa was elected as president and first secretary of ZANU-PF... and was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2018 general elections,” said a party official. —
harare — Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe was on Sunday facing the end of his 37-year rule, as the once-loyal ZANU-PF party sacked him as its leader and told him to resign as head of state.
Mugabe’s grip on power was broken last week when the military took over, angered at his wife Grace’s emergence as the leading candidate to succeed the 93-yearold president.
As ZANU-PF delegates cheered wildly, a party official announced at a meeting in Harare that Mugabe had been ousted as party chief.
He was replaced by former vicepresident Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had been Grace Mugabe’s chief rival.
In a stunning reversal of allegiances, the party added that it would impeach Mugabe if he did not resign by Monday, Mnangagwa would be its candidate in 2018 elections, and that Grace was expelled from the ZANU-PF ranks.
Robert Mugabe — the world’s oldest head of state — remained national president but faces overwhelming opposition from the generals, much of the Zimbabwean public and from his own party.
“(Mugabe’s) wife and close associates have taken advantage of his frail condition to usurp power and loot state resources,” party official Obert Mpofu told the ZANU-PF meeting.
Army chief Constantino Chiwenga held further talks with Mugabe on Sunday at State House, the president’s official residence.
Official photographs of the meeting showed one officer saluting the president, who stood behind his desk, and several senior officers sitting in a formal room with white sofas and a bright red carpet.
No details of the meeting were released.
The two sides first met on Thursday, in an attempt to present dignified image of the tense process of negotiating Mugabe’s departure. Veterans of the independence war — who were also formerly key Mugabe allies — added their voice in support of him resigning, demanding that he leave office immediately.
Zimbabweans have experienced a historic week in which the military seized power and put Mugabe under house arrest.
On Saturday, in scenes of public euphoria, huge crowds marched and sang their way through Harare and other cities in peaceful celebrations marking the apparent end of his long, authoritarian rule. —