MUGABE NEGOTIATES FUTURE...
Troubled Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe (left), and the country’s army chief, Gen. Constantino Chiwenga, when Mugabe who is under house arrest, met with the army chief, a Catholic cleric and South African envoys yesterday in the State House, Harare, to discuss the president’s future. Zimbabwe’s military took over power on Wednesday morning to prevent a power grab by Mugabe’s wife, Grace, who was positioning herself to succeed her 93-year-old husband.
Okechukwu Uwaezuoke A coterie of South African government ministers are in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare to mediate in the talks with ousted President Robert Mugabe and military leaders who seized control on Wednesday.
The efforts of the ministers are coming at a time when the embattled southern Africa nation mulls its future after the military takeover.
Negotiations continued as military commanders seek to find a new leader after the army had dramatically ousted President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday, placing him and his family under house arrest.
The South African ministers, according to BBC, are trying to reach a deal on the future of Zimbabwe and its ousted 93-year-old president, who has ruled the country since its independence 37 years ago.
To this end, the regional bloc South African Development Community (SADC) plans to hold emergency talks shortly.
There are indications that Mugabe may be resisting pressure to resign, insisting that he remains the legitimate president.
Also, the head of the African Union, Guinean President Alpha Conde, has said the AU “will in no case accept” the military seizure of power, urging “the army to return to its barracks and return to constitutional order”.
As Zimbabweans cautiously await the military’s next step, the capital city remains on edge. The ousted president has been under house arrest, while a Roman Catholic priest known to him for years, Father Fidelis Mukonori, is trying to negotiate a deal with the military on his future.
Meanwhile, South African Defence Minister Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Bongani Bongo are meeting with Mugabe on behalf of the SADC, which South Africa currently heads, said BBC.
Among the sticking points are the ousted Zimbabwean vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s future role and the security of Mugabe’s family.
The army’s intervention began on Tuesday night when armoured tanks were spotted rolling into the outskirts of the capital, Harare, while the military took over the country’s public TV station. Zimbabweans woke up on Wednesday morning to find military vehicles blocking key intersections in the capital, sealing off several government buildings, including Mugabe’s residence.
The military spokesman, Major General SB Moyo, would later that morning in a televised speech reassure the public that Mr Mugabe, who was being held in his home, was “safe and sound” and explained that the army was targeting only “criminals around the president” with the aim of bringing them to justice.
Earlier on Monday, Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Constantino Chiwenga, who is a key ally of Mr Mnangagwa, had given Mugabe an ultimatum to stop purges of officials linked to the exiled politician.
The ousted president had himself provoked the military when he sacked his former vice-president Mnangagwa in an apparent bid to manoeuvre his wife Grace into a position to succeed him. Grace Mugabe enjoys the support of a faction of MPs called G40 and the powerful youth wing of the ruling ZANU-PF.The52-year-oldhadpublicly expressed her willingness to take on the job of president at the time and called Mnangagwa a “snake” that “must be hit on the head.”
Mnangagwa, known by locals as “The Crocodile”, is a respected veteran who belonged to the liberation-era group that fought for independence in 1970s. For decades, he also held the reins as the Zimbabwe’s chief spy and acted as the intermediary between the ruling party and the nation’s military and intelligence agencies. Thus, he was was well positioned to succeed Mugabe.
Meanwhile, calm generally reigned in the streets of Harare, with the army intent on expressing its harmless goals refrained from calling its move to seize power a coup. Amid rumours that Grace Mugabe may have fled the country, the army insisted that she was being held in custody with her husband.
While the military leaders worked frantically to restore a semblance of normalcy by putting together a transitional authority that would lead the country to elections, panic-buying of supplies like bread and sugar was rampant in the streets. Mnangagwa, who fled to South Africa last week after he was sacked remains the military’s preferred candidate to take over from Mugabe, while the leader opposition figure and former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been down with an illness for over a month in South Africa, was said to have been approached by the generals to deputise Mnangagwa.