Mugabe has not resigned and remains president of Zimbabwe

Mugabe is still the head of state in Zimbabwe and while he was axed from Zanu-PF on Sunday, he will remain president of the country.

Watch Mugabe address the nation below:

In his speech, Mugabe commended the army and said they had treated him with respect and dignity. He said their stature was authoritative and intent on resolving conflict and finding a way forward.

Earlier:

Sources revealed that Mugabe had resigned and would address the nation, however he has not resigned.

Mugabe’s grip on power was broken last week when the military took over, angered at his wife Grace’s emergence as the leading candidate to succeed the 93-year-old president.

Tweets about #Zimbabwe #Mugabe

As ZANU-PF delegates cheered wildly, a party official announced at a meeting in Harare that Mugabe had been ousted as party chief.

Zimbabwe’s Secretary for Finance Obert Mpofu reads a statement to delegates during the ZANU PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) Central Committee meeting to recall Zimbabwe’s president on November 19, 2017 at the party’s headquarters in Harare. AFP PHOTO / Jekesai NJIKIZANA

He was replaced by former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had been Grace Mugabe’s chief rival.

In a stunning reversal of allegiances, the party added that it would impeach Mugabe if he did not resign by Monday, Mnangagwa would be its candidate in 2018 elections, and that Grace was expelled from the ZANU-PF ranks.

Robert Mugabe — the world’s oldest head of state — remains national president but now faces overwhelming opposition from the generals, much of the Zimbabwean public and from his own party.

“(Mugabe’s) wife and close associates have taken advantage of his frail condition to usurp power and loot state resources,” party official Obert Mpofu told the ZANU-PF meeting.

Army chiefs who led the takeover were due to hold further talks with the president later Sunday.

– Historic week –

The two sides first met on Thursday, smiling in photographs that attempted to present a dignified image of the tense process of negotiating Mugabe’s departure.

Veterans of the independence war — who were also formerly key Mugabe allies — added their voice in support of him resigning, demanding that he leave office immediately.

Zimbabweans have experienced a historic week in which the military seized power and put Mugabe under house arrest in response to his sacking of vice president Mnangagwa, who has close military ties.

On Saturday, in scenes of public euphoria not seen since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, huge crowds marched and sang their way through Harare and other cities in peaceful celebrations marking the apparent end of his long, authoritarian rule.

The demonstrations drew citizens of all ages, jubilant that Mugabe appeared to be on his way out.

In central Harare, a group of young men tore down a green metal street sign bearing Robert Mugabe’s name and smashed it repeatedly on the road.

Such open dissent would have would have been routinely crushed by security forces before this week’s shock events.

– Peace, jobs, a normal life –

“What you saw yesterday, it shows that the people have spoken,” Mordecai Makore, 71, a retired teacher told AFP after attending a Sunday morning service at the Catholic cathedral in central Harare.

“All we want is peace, a good life with a working economy that creates jobs for our people. We will continue praying for that. I want my children and grandchildren to live a normal good life.”

The majority of Zimbabweans have only known life under Mugabe’s rule, which has been defined by violent suppression, economic collapse and international isolation.

Sources suggest Mugabe has been battling to delay his exit and to secure a deal guaranteeing future protection for him and his family.

He attended a university graduation ceremony on Friday, in a show of defiance after the talks with General Constantino Chiwenga — the leader of the military power grab.

The factional succession race that triggered Zimbabwe’s sudden crisis was between party hardliner Mnangagwa — known as the Crocodile — and a group called “Generation 40”, or “G40”, because its members are generally younger, which campaigned for Grace’s cause.

“She is very acceptable. Very much accepted by the people,” Mugabe said of Grace in a faltering interview to mark his 93rd birthday last February.

The president, who is feted in parts of Africa as the continent’s last surviving independence leader, is in fragile health.

But he previously said he would stand in elections next year that would see him remain in power until he was nearly 100-years-old.

He became prime minister on Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980 and then president in 1987.

Zimbabwe’s economic output has halved since 2000 when many white-owned farms were seized, leaving the key agricultural sector in ruins.

– AFP

Earlier:

Mugabe must resign or be impeached: Zanu-PF

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party said on Sunday that Robert Mugabe must resign as the country’s president or face impeachment, as it also resolved to expel his wife Grace.

A party meeting in Harare agreed that “Mugabe resign forthwith from his position as president of Zimbabwe” by midday Monday or face impeachment proceedings.

Delegates look on during the ZANU PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) party’s Central Committee meeting to recall Zimbabwe’s president on November 19, 2017 at the party’s headquarters in Harare. AFP PHOTO / Jekesai NJIKIZANA

Party spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo added that “Grace is on the list of people to be expelled from the party”.

Mugabe’s grip on power was broken last week when the military took over, angered at his wife Grace’s emergence as the leading candidate to succeed the 93-year-old president.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of overjoyed demonstrators flooded the streets of Zimbabwe in peaceful celebrations marking the apparent end of his long and authoritarian rule.

– AFP

Earlier:

Zanu-PF sacks Mugabe, readmits Mnangagwa

Sacked Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. File photo: ANA

Zimbabwe’s governing Zanu-PF party on Sunday sacked embattled President Robert Mugabe and reinstated Emmerson Mnangagwa as party vice-president.

Zanu-PF also resolved to elect Mnangagwa – who was recently fired as vice president by Mugabe – as the party’s new leader.

Following an extraordinary session of the Zanu-PF central committee on Sunday at the party’s headquarters in the capital Harare, acting chairman Obert Mpofu started by saying “this is a new era, not only for the party, but for the country as well”, before saying the whole of Zimbabwe was “ecstatic”.

“Well done defence forces,” Mpofu said. “These are revolutionary events. The people spoke yesterday [Saturday], judging by the massive [protest] turnout.”

Mpofu said Mugabe had done a lot of great things for Zimbabwe, but was “taken advantage of by his wife Grace and close associates when he got old”.

Zanu-PF also resolved to expel Grace and ban her for life from the party’s politics. Also expelled were Jonathan Moyo, national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, Mugabe nephew Patrick Zhuwao, Zanu-PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo, as well as many others aligned to the G40 faction – supporting Grace to succeed her husband – which has been fighting against Mnangagwa’s possible ascension to power.
– ANA

Earlier:

Zanu-PF fires Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe’s governing Zanu-PF party has fired President Robert Mugabe, his wife Grace, and two cabinet ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere.

The party’s central committee sacked Mugabe, 93, and his wife Grace, 52, as head of the  women’s league. This follows hot on the heels of the vote of no confidence in Mugabe passed by Zanu-PF’s 10 provincial co-ordinating committees (PCC) on Friday. They called on him to step down as president of Zimbabwe and president and first secretary of the party, saying he has lost control of the party and government business due to “incapacitation stemming from his advanced age”.

The party also accused Mugabe of allowing the formation of cabals run by his wife, Higher Education Minister Moyo, and Local Government Minister Kasukuwere. Kasukuwere and Moyo have been in hiding at Mugabe’s private Borrowdale mansion in Harare since the military took control of the country last week.

– ANA