Nation to swear in new leader today
HARARE: Emmerson Mnangagwa, the military-backed politician whose allies ended Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule over Zimbabwe, will be sworn in as the new president today, the speaker of the country’s Parliament announced Wednesday.
A day after Mr Mugabe resigned under mounting pressure, the governing party, ZANU-PF, quickly nominated Mr Mnangagwa, 75, to complete Mr Mugabe’s term as president until the next election, which must be held by August.
Mr Mnangagwa returned to Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, from South Africa on Wednesday — the first time he has been seen in public since Mr Mugabe fired him as vice-president on Nov 6. That dismissal triggered a chain of events that led to the country’s first transfer of power since independence in 1980. Mr Mnangagwa’s ascension to the presidency will cap a militaryled campaign that his allies have tried to coat with a veneer of legality.
To cheering supporters at the ZANUPF headquarters, Mr Mnangagwa said that leaders of the governing party had “constitutionally processed the resolutions which persuaded this moment to come by”. He said that the military intervention had reflected the people’s will and led to the start of a “new democracy”.
He also urged Zimbabweans to “come together” and pledged that Zimbabwe, a diplomatic pariah in the West under Mr Mugabe, would reach out to “friends outside the continent”.
Mr Mnangagwa, who was backed by the military, including the top military commander, Gen Constantino Chiwenga, said he had been “in constant contact with the service chiefs throughout” the recent events.
Mr Mugabe, who was himself last seen in public on Sunday, tendered his resignation in a letter to Parliament on Monday, just after lawmakers had begun impeachment proceedings. The military, which has held him under house arrest, released no details Wednesday about Mr Mugabe or his family.
In an effort to win legitimacy for the new government, Mr Mnangagwa’s allies have taken great pains to paint his elevation as following the rule of law. Under their direction, ZANU-PF expelled Mr Mugabe and named Mr Mnangagwa as its new leader. Then it moved to impeach Mr Mugabe.
The constitution allows the governing party to nominate an individual to the presidency if the office is vacant.
The trouble, legal experts and human rights group say, is that Mr Mnangagwa’s allies have influenced real-world events. In addition to placing Mr Mugabe under house arrest, the military, which does not have the authority to arrest individuals, has detained Mr Mnangagwa’s political rivals, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
“That’s what ZANU-PF has always done,” said Rashid Mahiya, executive director of HealZimbabwe Trust, a human rights group. “It’s not your usual dictatorship. There’s a veneer of legality and constitutionality in all they do, but the politics take place behind the scenes.”
Some have also raised questions about the constitutionality of Mr Mnangagwa’s nomination. Before he was fired, he was one of Mr Mugabe’s two vice-presidents. The other, Phelekezela Mphoko, belonged to the rival faction, led by Mr Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe.
According to the constitution, in the event of a vacancy, one of the vice-presidents automatically becomes president while the governing party has 90 days to nominate an interim president. Mphoko, as the only vice-president, appeared to be in line to become president upon Mr Mugabe’s resignation.
On Sunday, Mr Mnangagwa’s allies in ZANU-PF expelled Mr Mphoko from the party. Even so, he could have been dismissed as vice-president only by the president himself, said Greg Linington, an expert on constitutional law at the University of Zimbabwe.
But Mr Mphoko, who was visiting Japan, has not returned to Zimbabwe, fearing for his safety.
“No one even knows where exactly he is,” Mr Linington said. “So the practicalities of the situation are that he’s not available to perform the functions of the office.”
On Tuesday, minutes after Mr Mugabe’s resignation was announced, thousands of Zimbabweans flooded Africa Unity Square in Harare in an outpouring of celebration.