MUGABE OUSTED AFTER 37 YEARS
Relief for Zimbabwe’s people as military kick dictator out of office.. but army deny a coup
PEOPLE in Zimbabwe yesterday welcomed the deposing of tyrant Robert Mugabe after 37 years.
Mugabe, 93, was put under house arrest after an apparent coup and his notorious wife Grace fled the country by plane.
The army are thought to have acted to prevent the woman known as “Gucci Grace” for her extravagant lifestyle from succeeding her husband.
Mugabe is set to be replaced today by Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was sacked as vice-president last week.
The army described it as a “bloodless transition” and that they were targeting “criminals” in Mugabe’s entourage.
While heavy gun and artillery fire was heard in parts of Harare, there was said to be an “uneasy calm” in the capital.
The army seized the national TV station and a senior officer read a prepared statement, insisting: “We wish to make it abundantly clear that this is not a military takeover of government.”
Chris Mutsvangwa, a war veterans leader, said: “This is a correction of a state that was careening off the cliff.
“It’s the end of a very painful and sad chapter in the history of a young nation, in which a dictator, as he became old, surrendered his court to a gang of thieves around his wife.”
Mugabe is reviled abroad as a despot who has ruined Zimbabwe’s economy and used violence to crush his opponents.
Arnold Bhebhe, a former lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, fled Zimbabwe after being tortured for opposing Mugabe’s regime.
He said: “It is not pleasant that Mnangagwa is to take over but I believe that for a smooth transition to happen then he is pivotal in doing so.”
In Harare yesterday there was hope of a brighter future.
Mobile phone shop owner Rumbi Katepfu said: “I am happy to see Mugabe gone. Maybe this country can start to develop again.
“I did not think this would ever happen... We used to think Mugabe and Grace were invincible.”
The UK Foreign Office advised Britons in Harare to remain at home or in their accommodation.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: “Nobody wants simply to see the transition from one unelected tyrant to a next. We want to see proper, free and fair elections.”