via Mugabe hints at exit before elections Nehanda Radio Apr 24, 2014
President Robert Mugabe has hinted that he will step down before the 2018 elections. Speaking in a BBC documentary “Robert Mugabe @ 90” by film maker Roy Abyemang he said “I have not come up with any conclusion as to which one, really, should be my successor. I leave it to the choice of the people.
Perhaps when we get close to the election, I will have some(one) in mind.”
This has been interpreted as Mugabe’s closest hint that he intends to last only the next four years, and then retire. He would be 94 by then, and there is little chance that he could seek to rule Zimbabwe for a further five years.
At the 34th independence celebrations on Friday, Mugabe struggled with his eyesight while delivering his speech, with the right almost shut as he repeatedly used his hand to clear it. He has often been caught on camera sleeping at international forums and is no longer as visible in the public as in the past.
Several times, the latest being in January, he has been rumoured to be dead, but he has emerged to laugh at the rumours and declare himself ‘fit as a fiddle’. Social media has been abuzz about Mugabe’s health since his image appeared in the press on Friday. Some went to extremes, wishing him dead, which is very un-African. Some insulted him, with someone calling him a donkey.
Former RBZ Govenor, Gideon Gono, Deputy President Joice Mujuru and Minister of Justice who is also Zanu (PF) Legal Affairs secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa are front runners to succeed him.
Legal expert Greg Lennington is skeptical that Mugabe intends to step down before the 2018 elections. “I would be surprised if he left before the next elections. Power is addictive and very hard to give up, especially when you have been there for a long time,” he said.
He added that Mugabe’s decision to publicly dismiss both Mnangagwa and Mujuru as a definite successor was meant to “tease them”, but said all those contending for his position must have been unsettled by the utterances.
“We are likely to see fiercer jockeying for Mugabe’s post. His statements are catalysts for factional fights,” he added. The Zimbabwean
COMMENTS
He is going to die in office. Thats his aim.
Talking already of the dead. You can’t expect to ask Mugabe to look after you 4 head of sheeps and expect to find the together in less than 5 minutes to look for a phone card from a nearby shop. Given this fact, how do you expect to lead a nation? He has turned out to be the only recorded living ancestor the world over, despised by many, as well as, loved by some.
The only place he should be aiming for is redemption. Four more years of fraudulently holding office is no great luxury compared to the possibility of eternity in hell.
Exactly..!
This is utter rubbish. Can ZBC replay his interview by Shingirai Tungwarara. He is going nowhere. As long as all the escape are closed he would rather die in office. People are told a lot of lies by this old man every time he opens his stinking mouth. Nyika yave pasi peMilitary rule iyi. Asi hamuzvioni here?
He needs the men in uniform. The leaders of the security forces need him. A marriage made in hell. The politburo pretenders will just have to keep marking time.
IT CERTAINLY! WONT BE SK MOYO, A MAKALANGA! NO MATABELE WILL EVER BE PRESIDENT! THIS IS NOT RWANDA!!!!
He is definitely going nowhere. We hv to vote him out.
Here hoping he has and exit like Gaddaffi or Saddam live on tv.
Of course he has eaten all his siblings and has nowhere to turn to. The exit he is referring to is to the next world
Its a system and not an individual. Mugabe will go but Zanupf will remain. There might be more brutality after his departure. Ask those who witnessed the murder of over 20000 of their people after the disbanding of the selous scouts and other Rhodesian military infrastructure. And the genocide happened while there were British soldiers on the Zimbabwean soil. Its not just an individual.
Dictators don’t retire
You know I am so sick and tired of hearing about what Mugabe wants and does not want to do. It disgusts me. Who is he? I wish him no harm but he has been the instrument of utter destruction in Zimbabwe. He should just choose which one of his multi million dollar homes he would like to retire in, with their bunkers, so he doesn’t have a Saddam or Quadaffi exit and just go and leave our dying nation alone. I see only the spirit of death in everything he does and says and thinks. There is no life of Christ in him. Everything he touches dies. He should go into retirement and start swotting for his finals because as of now he has failed the test. He, and others in his party are in a very precarious position and they are too blind to see. I suggest the private sector papers give reporting Mugabe a miss. To us he is just not news anymore. tell us when he is retired by some person in ZPF with a bit of gumption if there are any. And yet not our will but God’s be done. may He have mercy on this nation.
I did not see the hint here.
Likely his preference
1) Sydney Sekeramayi- people dont understand him
2) Gideon Gono – vanhu vanotya mabearer
2) Gware gwena – vanhu havamude tingapere
3) Mai Helicopter – makava anovadya
Peoples choice
1) Save
2) Strive
He has been saying this for the past 20 years! Who ever believes him is day dreaming. He said he will retire when he is done with land reform, then he said he wants to leave the party united, when he knows that’s he is fuelling factions. What a joke!
Person who wrote this sounds like someone in grade 7…absolutely nothing newsworthy that pple don’t know
It is a fact if there was no Tsvangirai mugabe whould have named or appointed a succesor to lead zanu pf and government no wonder why there is leadership renewal calls in mdc t there are some idiots in mdc t who cant see this, without Tsvangirai mugabe wont be still president,but now its too late ,i see him there until pigs fly .
god is no fool look at him (Mugabe) he is now fast becoming blind like hastings kamuzu banda did…aiita semunhu asingafe but lastly akazovharika maziso. thats what our headman rg is going through now December akasvika achirimupenyu mugozoti Dongondarimwe you are a liar. nyika irikutongwa neArmy apa nyaya iripo ndeyekuti munhu afirepo kuti asazosungwa pamwe chete neavo varikudya naye those are same guys who are forcing him to stay put but they cant see that they are burdening him too much given that his health has deterioted god will take him soon dont worry
Please, dear Zimbabweans, don’t, once again, read too much from the dictator’s mouth. Mugabe has, and will never say the truth except when he threatens violence.
This wizzen-hearted stick is going nowhere. Zimbabwe can as well go to pieces (which is already happening) but Robert Gabriel Mugabe will firmly hang on the levers of power. Some world leaders, such as the late Kim Jong-il love whisky, gin and tonic, blood marys, etc. Mugabe’s favourite drink is POWER. His recurring nightmare is to see anyone else occupy the highest office in the land.
Forget the Munangagwas, Mujurus and what-have-you as long as waRobati is alive. For the opposition, the right thing to do at the moment is to prepare for the unfolding economic and social catastrophe. The zimdollar is coming, and that’s for SURE. 2008 is going to be replayed again, and Mugabe will have to do something to ensure his survival.
First, in the face of economic collapse and dissatisfaction, the ZANU PF securo establishment (army, police, CIO and sundry) will crack down on any forms of opposition – mainstream opposition parties, civil society and the media. After suppressing the opposition, Mugabe will reach out to his friends and sympathizers in the SADC (South Africa in particular) and the OAU, and the MDC and other opposition parties will be dragooned into another GNU (controlled by ZANU PF of course). And there will be another election in which, once again, the results will be fudged.
Depressing? Yes, but this is what it will be.
Mugabe will be gone within 2 years either by dying or retiring. Zimbabwe is in a hole and he cannot approach the West through pride. They need to get out of the hole and they will have to present a new leader to the West who will make all sorts of conciliatory noises ‘a new beginning, mistakes made by both sides, historic links, overzealousness, friendship, win-win, we never wanted… etc’ There is no help from the East and they need to pay the army and the public sector. That is their stumbling block. The economy has crashed and they cannot get money. They need money.
Eish! Jono. Two years seems like a long time. Patience is not one of my strong points. I confess. What will we have left in two years time. Only God knows. It is His timing.
From the tone of this article its clear that it was authored by someone who does not know what kind of person Mugabe is. Mugabe ndichandagwinyira, achada-ada; he can only be forced to change it by some forces beyond his control not voluntarily. The author doesn’t seem to appreciate this reality about the man. Those of us who know him well know that Mugabe had always and still wants to be a life-President – failed achieve that constitutionally in the ’80s largely due to open resistance senior liberation war veterans, especially Cde Edgar Tekere (Towboy) who openly opposed Mugabe’s then wishes of making Zim a one-party state and making himself (Mugabe) a life-President. However, the sad reality is Mugabe never stopped pursuing his one-party state agenda – that’s way he will do whatever it takes to destroy any genuine opposition party, and more importantly his desire to die a president. This is what he is gunning for forget about what ever insinuation he might make – the man is committed to die a president.
So the long & short of it is those who think Mugabe will at some point willingly & consciously surrender power to whoever they are dreaming of are lost far & wide. That will never happen – its simply either death or some overwhelming pressure that can push the old man out of state house. Anything else is a pipe dream that will remain a fantasy to those who experience the dream.
Put money on Grace taking over his seat,got to keep it in the family!!And God help the country then.
TO HELL
innocent Zimbabweans hev been victimized and living like orphans in foreign countries nekuda kwamugabe, get prepared to rot in hell . u are heartless aaaargh
how do u expect the dead to die again, frankly speaking Zimbabwe is being lead by a ghost