Open for Mugabe Road to impeachment
had and a hero of the country’s liberation struggle.
In recent years, many critics of Mugabe’s leadership have blamed his wife, Grace Mugabe, who is often portrayed as a puppet master manipulating a senile man. Grace Mugabe was seen as angling to be her husband’s successor in the wake of Mnangagwa’s dismissal.
Over the next few days, Mugabe’s opponents have said, they plan to explore legal channels, such as impeachment, to remove him.
“For years we’ve been victims of the lawlessness of the ruling party,” said Lovemore Madhuku, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Zimbabwe. “If we abandon the law to get Mugabe out, we are not safeguarding ourselves from more lawlessness in the future.”
Amid the uncertainty, a debate is raging among legal experts and lawmakers about how long an impeachment process would take. Paul Mangwana, deputy secretary of Zanu-PF, said it would take only two days.
Madhuku said it would likely take months if the law were followed.
Mangwana said Parliament would set up a committee today responsible for impeachment and that it would issue its decision tomorrow. “The main charge is allowing his wife to usurp government powers,” he said.
But after the military’s announcement, it was unclear whether impeachment proceedings would move forward.
If Mnangagwa is permitted to return to the country as a part of a military-led compromise, some antiMugabe members of Zanu-PF might back down from their impeachment demands, accepting a compromise that would keep Mugabe in power.
On Monday, the party voted to remove Mugabe as its leader and expelled his wife for life, so accepting his role as head of state now would be a stunning about-face. Lawmakers were expected to begin proceedings to impeach Robert Mugabe today. Paul Mangwana, deputy secretary of the ruling ZanuPF party, said Parliament would set up a committee responsible for impeachment and that it would issue its decision tomorrow. The opposition MDC-T party has tried unsuccessfully to impeach Mugabe in the past. But with Mugabe's own Zanu-PF party, which has an overwhelming majority in both houses, behind the move this time, the vote is likely to go against him. If the impeachment goes ahead, the military can claim that Mugabe was removed legally, and not by armed force. Current Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko would likely become President. Mphoko, however, is a known supporter of Grace Mugabe, and the leaders of the defence forces would prefer to install Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former Vice-President who was named the new Zanu-PF party leader on Monday. Grace Mugabe was seen as angling to be her husband’s successor in the wake of Mnangagwa’s dismissal.