Most regional branches of Mugabe’s party call for him to go

“The province resolved unanimously to recall the president… from being the president of the party and the government,” said Cornelius Mupereri, a spokesman for the party’s Midlands region.

He was one of several branch officials to appear on ZBC’s nightly news to call for the 93-year-old leader to go in what appeared to be a coordinated effort, with the officials reading almost identical statements.

Their declarations add to the already considerable pressure on Mugabe to go which has been mounting since generals seized power on Tuesday night and placed him under house arrest.

The army’s intervention came after Mugabe last week fired his vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa who was thought to be the military’s favoured candidate to replace Mugabe if he died or resigned.

The sacking cleared the way for First Lady Grace Mugabe, who is 41 years younger than the president, to succeed him — a situation that is believed to have irked many senior military officers.

As well as the increasingly vocal opposition from within his own party, Mugabe will face street protests on Saturday organised by veterans of the country’s independence war and supported by long-standing opponents of the president.