Source: Mugabe clings to power but resignation letter reported to be ready – NewsDay Zimbabwe
HARARE – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has agreed to stand down after 37 years in power, CNN reported on Monday, after he avoided any mention of resignation in a rambling national address on Sunday night.
Reuters
A resignation letter has now been drafted, CNN said, citing sources familiar with his negotiations with the generals who seized power in Harare last week.
Under the terms of the deal, Mugabe and his wife Grace would be granted full immunity, CNN said.
Pressure was now mounting from all sides on the 93-year-old, the only leader Zimbabwe has known since its independence in 1980, to swiftly end the confusion that has gripped the country since the de facto coup last Wednesday.
Mugabe stunned Zimbabweans in a rambling late night Sunday television address by avoiding any mention of resignation, pledging instead to preside over a congress next month of ZANU-PF, which had sacked him as its leader only hours earlier.
Moments after Mugabe’s address, war veterans’ leader Chris Mutsvangwa told Reuters they would lead public protests in the streets of Harare.
Mugabe was also given a deadline of noon (1000 GMT) on Monday to stand down or the ruling ZANU-PF will begin impeachment proceedings against him.
Parliament does not sit on Mondays so any impeachment would have to wait until Tuesday, although a vote may not necessarily take place the same day.
Two senior government sources told Reuters late on Sunday that Mugabe had agreed to resign but did not know details of his departure.
There has been speculation that he read the wrong speech in his live television address on Sunday or skipped over passages about standing down.
ZANU-PF’s central committee had earlier named Emmerson Mnangagwa as its new leader. It was Mugabe’s sacking of Mnangagwa as his vice-president paving the way for his wife Grace to succeed him that triggered the army to seize control.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Harare to celebrate Mugabe’s expected downfall and hail a new era for their country.
The huge crowds in Harare have given a quasi-democratic veneer to the army’s intervention, backing its assertion that it was merely effecting a constitutional transfer of power, rather than a plain coup, which would risk a diplomatic backlash.
Armored vehicles manned by soldiers were still stationed on some street corners in the capital on Monday.
COMMENTS
Did not Mugabe’s showing on TV last night prove to us all, beyond any doubt, that he should have stood down a very long time ago.
But the sad thing is that all of us Zimbabweans were complicit in one way or another in allowing him to serve for these terrible 37 years. Some of us of course were much more complicit than others.
On the question of full immunity for him and his wife. This is very wrong as it will encourage future dictators to copy them, as they will know that no punishment will ever follow their criminal behaviour.
And believe me, there are many budding dictators just like Mugabe was, waiting in the wings to get on that same Zimbabwe gravy train to boundless power and riches.
Like Mnangagwa and Chiwenga! And the masses are played like puppets, ululating in the streets. They’re not exactly the ripest bananas are they?
Surely the government will recover the $14.8 billion he has stashed in China plus all the other money and prperties they have around the world. I really hope full immunity does not mean they keep all the money they have stolen from us!!??
The question remains whether the military can put the genie of Zimbabwean springtime freedom back into the bottle. Zimbabweans feel that that they have almost reached freedom. This scares ZanuPF and the military. They are not trying to push the wish for a democratic Zimbabwe back into the bottle. Do not be fooled if zanu-pf is part of the solution the corruption will continue
What a palaver. This is why Zim will never change, ZANU PF & it’s military are a joke. There will be no new foreign investment or Diasporan investment or return while they are still in charge. There’s no hope for Zimbabweans until we have a proper revolution.
Please send Mugabe to the hague he needs to be held accountable and spend the rest of his life in jail. The money he stole should be returned via the IMF to help the Zimbabwe stoic people get their wonderful country back on its feet. The devil is waiting for him.
Why not impeach Mphoko as well he will then become acting president