Zimbabweans gathered in Africa Unity Square opposite the Parliament on Monday to call for President Robert Mugabe to step down.
The gathering was a prayer meeting that’s planned for every day this week until Mugabe steps down, with calls for churches, civil society and ordinary people to be included in the talks for an inclusive government.
Doug Coltart, one of the organisers of the gathering and the organiser of #ThisFlag, said they had claimed the space opposite parliament, and would be meeting there daily.
“We want Mugabe to step down. We want him to go peacefully,” he said.
Military chiefs and senior figures in the ruling ZANU-PF party have been examining ways in which they can punish the Mugabe family and seize the assets they accumulated over the last four decades.
The Mugabes own more land than any other individual in Zimbabwe ever has – both before and after independence in 1980. – The Times
Mugabe impeachment: Zanu-PF MPs summoned
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has reportedly summoned its members of parliament “as the former liberation movement moved to trigger a process to impeach beleaguered President Robert Mugabe”.
Mugabe has lost public, party support, Britain says
Robert Mugabe has “lost the support of the people and of his party”, Britain said Monday after the Zimbabwean president insisted he still holds power despite a military takeover and demands to quit.
Mugabe fired his vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa on November 6
Robert Mugabe has “lost the support of the people and of his party”, Britain said on Monday after the Zimbabwean president insisted he still holds power despite a military takeover and demands to quit.
“As last night’s events showed, we don’t yet know how developments in Zimbabwe are going to play out,” Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokesperson said.
“But what does appear clear is that Mugabe has lost the support of the people and of his party. “We would say that while the situation remains uncertain, we would appeal for everyone to refrain from violence. We hope to see a peaceful and swift resolution to the situation.”
In a televised address late on Sunday, Mugabe defied expectations he would quit, pitching the country into a second week of political crisis.
The speech provoked anger and disbelief among many Zimbabweans, fuelling concerns that the 93-year-old veteran leader could face a violent backlash.
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from British rule in 1980. – AFP
Two senior political sources said Mugabe agreed to resign on Sunday but ZANU-PF did not want him to quit in front of the military, an act that would have made its intervention look like a coup.
“It would have looked extremely bad if he had resigned in front of those generals. It would have created a huge amount of mess,” one senior source within ZANU-PF said. – Reuters
‘Unworried’ Mugabe was busy ‘munching mealies as Zimbabweans protested against him’
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was reportedly not bothered by the recent demonstrations calling for him to step down.
“Relations between China and Mugabe have been quite fractious over the past year and a half, and the current situation is going to make things worse,” said Derek Matyszak, a Harare-based senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
China is unhappy about Mugabe’s mismanagement of Zimbabwe’s economy and is believed to favour as his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who’s seen as more of an “economic pragmatist”, Matyszak said. – AP
SADC leaders set to meet in Angola over Zimbabwe crisis
The Southern African Development Community is expected to discuss Zimbabwe’s political crisis in Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, the presidency has said in a statement.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu has sent former president Kenneth Kaunda to Harare to try to convince President Robert Mugabe to step down in a “dignified exit” after the military seized power last week.
“Dr Kaunda used the presidential jet and has already arrived in Harare,” a senior government source told Reuters.
Kaunda is also 93 years old. – Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shows Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe the way during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.
Under Robert Mugabe’s decades-long rule over Zimbabwe, China grew into one of its biggest investors, trading partners and diplomatic allies.
Now, as the African nation appears on the verge of its first transition of power since independence, Beijing is poised to be among the biggest winners. (Ng Han Guan, AP, File)
Newspapers are held down by rocks to stop them blowing away at a news stand in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Long-time President Robert Mugabe ignored a 12:00 deadline set by the ruling party to step down or face impeachment proceedings, while Zimbabweans stunned by his lack of resignation during a national address vowed more protests to make him leave. (Ben Curtis, AP)
Noon deadline for defiant Mugabe passes as Zimbabwe crisis deepens
Robert Mugabe faced the threat of impeachment by his own party on Monday, after his shock insistence he still holds power in Zimbabwe despite a military takeover and a noon deadline to end his 37-year autocratic rule
Going… going… going nowhere! Mugabe’s speech decoded
Everyone was waiting with bated breath for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to announce his resignation in a televised address to the nation on Sunday. Earlier on the day, his party, the ZANU-PF, gave the 93-year old 24 hours to resign as head of state — or face impeachment.
Mugabe, ‘leave state house’ or we go back to the streets – Zimbabwe war vets
The leader of Zimbabwe’s war veterans said they will be bringing the people back to the streets to remove President Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe’s end game: How the president could leave power
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe defied expectations by not resigning on Sunday, but support for the 93-year-old veteran leader is still crumbling.
Military ‘should step back and allow people to oust Mugabe’, says war vets leader
Zimbabwe’s influential war veterans association says the military should step back and let the people, and politics, remove longtime President Robert Mugabe from power.
