Political foes join forces for anti-mugabe mass rally
THOUSANDS of demonstrators are expected to rally in Harare today as an unprecedented alliance of Zanu-pf hardliners and opposition activists seek to force Robert Mugabe to step aside as Zimbabwe’s president.
The rally, which has been organised by the country’s War Veterans Association, but endorsed by opposition parties and civil society groups, is intended to convince Mr Mugabe he has lost public support and lend an air of legitimacy to the de facto military coup that resulted in him being placed under house arrest.
The march comes as further details emerged of plans by Zanu-pf, the party Mr Mugabe has led for four decades, to impeach him if he refuses to resign voluntarily. Zanu-pf yesterday officially called for him to stand down and also called for Grace, his wife, to resign from the party. “The game is up,” said Christopher Mutsvangwa, the head of the War Veterans Association, at a press conference in Harare. “We want to restore our pride and tomorrow is the day... we can finish the job which the army started.”
Mr Mutsvangwa said that the march was for “all Zimbabweans” and that police and the military would not arrest demonstrators.
His association of veterans of the war for independence from white rule was for years a bastion of Mr Mugabe’s administration and played a key role in the seizure of white-owned farms and intimidation of opposition groups.
In a twist unthinkable just a few weeks ago, they will be joined by opposition parties, including the Movement for Democratic Change, and prodemocracy civil society groups.
Evan Mawarire, a pastor who was jailed by Mr Mugabe for organising protests and strikes last year, said: “We are joining hands across social groups, we are joining hands across political divides, and we are uniting for a new and fresh Zimbabwe. This is a big and defining moment for Zimbabweans.”
The demonstration is part of a twopronged strategy to pressure Mr Mugabe into resigning and lend credence to the military’s claim that it is managing a “transition” rather than an illegal coup. Zanu-pf last night called on Mr Mugabe to resign, the main state newspaper The Herald reported. The newspaper said that Zanu-pf branches in all 10 provinces had met yesterday.
The provinces told the party’s head office in Harare that Mr Mugabe, 93, was “too old and incapacitated to lead both Zanu PF and the government,” according to Harare daily Newsday.
Paul Mangwana, one of Zanu-pf’s top lawyers, confirmed yesterday that the central committee would meet on tomorrow. Another member of the central committee, who asked not to be named, said that it was now dominated by those who wanted Mr Mugabe out of the top party post, and want him to resign as national president. However, even if he is “recalled” from his leadership of Zanu-pf, it does not mean he would automatically lose his post as national president.
Sources in Zanu-pf said parliament could introduce a motion to evict Mr Mugabe from the presidency in parliament by Tuesday. The generals’ goal is to prevent Mr Mugabe from handing power to his 52-year-old wife. They are believed to be hoping to install Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former security chief who Mr Mugabe fired as vice-president two weeks ago, as his successor.
Gen Constantino Chiwenga, the head of the armed forces and the presumed architect of the coup, spent much of Thursday locked in talks with Mr Mugabe over his departure.
But Mr Mugabe refused to step down, exploiting the reluctance of the coup organisers to violate the Zimbabwean constitution, which could expose them to sanctions from the Southern African Development Community, the 15-member regional bloc. “No one wants to follow this through into a full-blown military coup. That’s the hold-up,” said Nick Mangwana, head of Zanu-pf’s British branch.
Zanu-pf regional branches are believed to be preparing to remove Mr Mugabe as first secretary and president of the party, which would remove him as president of the country, as early as tomorrow. Proceedings to impeach him in parliament would then follow.
However, Mr Mangwana said they would seek to persuade Mr Mugabe he had lost. “The first stage is to say ‘look, you have lost the support of your party because the entire electoral college is asking you to go,’” he said.
“The second stage is there will be a huge demonstration and they will say to him ‘did you see the millions of people on the streets? They are telling you to go. It is not the military doing this’”.
Under the constitution, the ruling party would appoint an interim president to finish Mr Mugabe’s term, which ends in August next year.
It is widely assumed that the interim leader would be Mr Mnangagwa, who would then lead Zanu-pf into a general election next year.