Johannesburg
– President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and his wife Grace are “ready to die for
what is correct” and have no intention of stepping down, his nephew, Patrick
Zhuwao, said. Speaking to Reuters from a secret location in South Afri
ca,
Zhuwao said Mugabe had hardly slept since the military seized power on
Wednesday but his health was otherwise “good”. The leaders of Zimbabwe’s ruling
ZANU-PF party are set to meet on Sunday to approve the dismissal of President
Robert Mugabe, the only leader the southern African nation has known since
independence 37 years ago, two party sources have said. An extraordinary
meeting of the party’s central committee is expected to convene around 10:30
a.m. (0830 GMT) to consider removing the 93-year-old, four days after a
military seizure of power ostensibly aimed at “criminals” within his entourage.
Separately, state television said Mugabe would meet military commanders on
Sunday, quoting the Catholic priest who has been mediating in negotiations with
the president. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets
of Harare, singing, dancing and hugging soldiers in an outpouring of elation at
Mugabe’s overthrow. ZANU-PF’s central committee is also expected to reinstate
Emmerson Mnangagwa as party vice-president, resurrecting the political career
of the former security chief, nicknamed The Crocodile, whose sacking this month
triggered the military’s intervention. Mugabe’s wife, Grace, will be fired as
head of the ZANU-PF Women’s League, the sources told Reuters, completing the
demise of a 52-year-old former government typist who just a week ago stood in
pole position to succeed her husband after Mnangagwa’s dismissal. The pair’s
stunning downfall is likely to send shockwaves across Africa, where a number of
entrenched strongmen, from Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of
Congo’s Joseph Kabila, are facing mounting pressure to step aside. In scenes
reminiscent of the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989,
men, women and children ran alongside the armoured cars and troops who stepped
in this week to oust the man who has ruled since independence from Britain in
1980. Under house arrest in his lavish ‘Blue Roof’ compound, Mugabe has refused
to stand down even as he has watched his support from party, security services
and people evaporate in less than three days. On Harare’s streets, few seemed
to care about the legal niceties as they heralded a “second liberation” for the
former British colony and spoke of their dreams for political and economic
change after two decades of deepening repression and hardship. “These are tears
of joy,” said Frank Mutsindikwa, 34, holding aloft the Zimbabwean flag. “I’ve
been waiting all my life for this day. Free at last. We are free at last.” The
crowds in Harare have so far given a quasi-democratic veneer to the army’s
intervention, backing its assertion that it is merely effecting a
constitutional transfer of power, which would help it avoid the diplomatic
backlash and opprobrium that normally follow a coup. The U.S., a long-time
Mugabe critic, said it was looking forward to a “new era” in Zimbabwe, while
President Ian Khama of neighbouring Botswana said Mugabe had no diplomatic
support in the region and should resign at once.(Reuters/NAN)
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