Nov 19, 2017: Story highlights
- Source tells CNN ruling party to meet Sunday for Mugabe confidence vote
- “We are finally getting rid of the old man,” Harare resident says
- Thousands take to the streets to protest Mugabe
Thousands of Zimbabweans took to the streets of Harare on Saturday to demand the resignation of President Robert Mugabe, in what could spell the political end for the 93-year-old leader who has ruled the country for nearly four decades.
Waving placards with slogans like “Mugabe Must Rest Now” and “No to Mugabe Dynasty,” the atmosphere on the streets of the south African nation’s capital was electric, just days after the army put Mugabe under house arrest and detained some of his key political allies.
People waved Zimbabwean flags while others ran alongside army tanks and hugged soldiers to show their gratitude. CNN did not see any police at the protest, which was originally called by the country’s influential association of army veterans.
People march through a street in Harare on Saturday.
A demonstrator carries a sign directed at first lady Grace Mugabe.
“The whole nation is celebrating today. We are finally getting rid of the old man,” said Tanashe, a Harare resident who declined to provide a second name.
Mugabe’s power appears to have finally been brought to check not by the opposition, but by the military and members of his own party, concerned about his apparent plans to have his wife Grace, 52, succeed him.
An army spokesman, speaking with demonstrators near the end of Saturday’s rally, even cast Robert Mugabe as a foe to his own country.
“Yes, we are in uniform, but understand that all we are doing is simply dealing with the enemy of Zimbabwe,” Gen. S.B. Noyo told remnants of the crowd in Harare, as he stood near a tank. But Mugabe was still refusing to step down, an official with direct knowledge of the ongoing negotiations between the President and the military told CNN.
Mugabe was meeting with army chief Gen. Constantino Chiwenga to discuss what happens next, the source told CNN. Chiwenga is pushing for Mugabe to step down and an interim president to take over, the source said.
The central committee of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF Party will meet Sunday morning to consider a vote of confidence in Mugabe as a party leader, a senior Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association member who asked not to be identified told CNN.
Grace under fire: A first lady’s ambition cut short
In December, a conference of the party will take place. It’s assumed that former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa will then become leader of the party and President of the country until elections next year, the source said.
ZANU-PF called for Mugabe to resign on Friday, the main state newspaper The Herald reported. It said party branches in all 10 provinces were also calling for the resignation of Grace Mugabe as the women’s league leader.
Zimbabwe’s Indigenization Minister Patrick Zhuwao, who is also Mugabe’s nephew, criticized what he described as the “military siege” underway in the country.
“At the moment Zimbabwe is under military siege and it means nobody is able to express what they want freely. They are acting under coercion. Zimbabwe is currently undergoing a coup and people are trying to sugar coat it,” he told CNN over the phone from South Africa.
He added: “Mugabe is willing to die for his principles. He is willing to die to protect the constitution.”
Source: CNN