Celebrations greet Mugabe’s fall from power
Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe’s president yesterday, swept from power as his 37-year reign of autocratic control and brutality crumbled within days of a military takeover.
The move looks set to bring an end to Zimbabwe’s worst political crisis since the country won independence from Britain in 1980.
The bombshell announcement was made by the speaker at a special joint session of parliament which had convened to impeach the 93-yearold who has dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades.
On the streets, the news sparked an explosion of wild celebration.
Car horns honked and people erupted into ecstatic cheers and frenzied dancing.
“I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect,” said the letter which was read out by parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda.
“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.”
In a highly symbolic scene, a man in a white shirt took down a portrait of Mugabe from the wall of a room inside the building where parliament sat for its extraordinary session. Another bystander replaced it with an image of Emmerson Mnangagwa – the former vice president recently deposed by Mugabe and who is expected to return to lead the country.
Outside, a man held up a smiling new-born wearing white pyjamas, prompting rapturous cheering from the crowd.
It capped an unprecedented week in which the military
seized control and tens of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans took to the streets in an extraordinary show of defiance to demand that Mugabe leave.
“I am so happy that Mugabe is gone, 37 years under dictatorship is not a joke. I am hoping for a new Zimbabwe ruled by the people,” Tinashe Chakanetsa, 18, told AFP.
Men were breakdancing, women were singing and children were in tears as the news began to sink in, all brandishing national flags and praising Gen Constantino Chiwenga who led the army takeover.
Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe almost unopposed since independence – but efforts to position his wife, Grace, as his successor triggered fury in the military that had underpinned his regime.
His grip on power was shattered last week when armoured military vehicles took to the streets, blockaded parliament while soldiers placed the president under house arrest in an operation that had all the hallmarks of a coup.
But the generals stressed they were simply “arresting” criminals around Mr Mugabe – a reference to supporters of his wife – and they even allowed the one-time liberation hero to deliver a televised speech and appear at a public function.
As the crisis grew, the ruling Zanu-PF party, an instrument of Mr Mugabe’s ruthless decades-long rule, removed him as party leader and began parliamentary proceedings to have him impeached.
“The man had run out of options. The writing was on the wall … He was in a state of denial,” said Innocent Gonese, the chief whip of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
“Mugabe might have been hoping that the impeachment process would not succeed, that it might stumble in getting the numbers together. But I think when he saw the turnout [of lawmakers] he probably realised he’d better jump before he was pushed,” said Derek Matyszak, an analyst at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.
His probable successor is Mr Mnangagwa, whose dismissal on November 6 triggered the crisis. Mr Mnangagwa, a former close ally of Mr Mugabe, had been Grace Mugabe’s chief rival to succeed him. Mrs Mugabe has not been seen since the start of the crisis.
Under the constitution, it is second vice president, Phelekezela Mphoko, who would ordinarily take over as head of state.
“I think we’re going to see Emmerson Mnangagwa sworn in very quickly … Mphoko is not in the country. Then the cabinet should meet if there’s no president or vice president and appoint one,” said Mr Matyszak, the analyst.
Mr Gonese agreed, suggesting that the ruling party could appoint a successor in “less than two hours”.
Theresa May, the British prime minister, said the resignation gave Zimbabwe “an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterised his rule”.
The United States embassy in Harare described it as a historic moment for Zimbabwe.
On Saturday, in scenes of public euphoria not seen since independence, huge crowds marched and sang their way through Harare and other cities in peaceful celebrations to mark his fading power.
Such open dissent would have been crushed by security forces before the past week’s shock events. Most Zimbabweans have only known life under Mr Mugabe’s rule, which was defined by violent suppression, economic collapse and international isolation.