Mugabe under pressure by army to resign

….As more leaders vote for his exit

Following the ongoing military occupation of Zimbabwe and likely takeover of power from the incumbent president, Robert Mugabe, there has been calls for him to quit as the military pressures him to bow out honourably.

This was coming as the country’s outset vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa has been reported to have returned from his exile, even as Mugabe turned 93 years and made a public appearance Friday, where he, wearing academic gown, presided over the country’s university graduation ceremony for more than 1,000 students in Harare.
The outing, was his first since the military took over state institutions and opened talks aimed at getting the aged leader to resign.

Mugabe, 93, is reported to be resisting demands from the army and members of his own ZANU-PF party to step down after 37 years in power.
The Zimbabwe Defense Forces seized key state institutions on Wednesday, confined President Mugabe to house arrest and clamped on what they termed thieves

surrounding the president, including Professor Jonathan Moyo, Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo, Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, Zanu PF Youth League secretary Kudzanayi Chipanga and several others.

The detainees, who are in army barracks, are said to be members of a faction of the ruling party that were seeking to elevate first lady Grace Mugabe to the post of vice president. President Mugabe fired his longtime ally, Emmerson Mnangagwa, from the position on November 5.

Meanwhile, agency report revealed that Zimbabwe’s former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is reported to have returned to the country barely two weeks after he reportedly fled after his boss dismissed him.

President Mugabe kicked out Mnangagwa, a key member of the country’s revolutionary struggle, in a move political watchers say was to pave the way for his wife, Grace Mugabe, to become president if he stepped down.

An unnamed aide of the former vice president, was reported to have told the AFP news agency that the man known as the “crocodile” was back in the country. AFP said it could not independently verify the report.

Mnangagwa left Zimbabwe on November 8 accusing Mugabe of turning the southern African country into his private property. The Army last Monday asked government to halt purge of his followers in the party of that they will “step in.”

However, two African leaders have waded into the political crisis in Zimbabwe, calling on long-serving Robert Gabriel Mugabe to step aside. The two leaders are Botswana’s Ian Khama and Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara.

The AFP news agency quoted the Ivorian leader as saying the world had changed and due to age and the duration Mugabe has been in power, “everyone is aware that it is time for him to handover his seat to a new generation.”

He, however, reserved praise for Mugabe, 93, who has been in power for the past 37 years. Starting off as Prime Minister of the southern African country after independence in 1980 before becoming president seven years later.
I don’t think anyone should be president for that amount of time. We are presidents not monarchs. It’s just common sense.

Khama is no newcomer in the area of calls for Mugabe to leave power. In an interview with Reuters, he said the military move on Mugabe was an opportunity to rest the path Zimbabwe was heading. “I don’t think anyone should be president for that amount of time. We are presidents not monarchs. It’s just common sense.”

In September 2016 he broke ‘diplomatic rules’ openly asking Mugabe to step down. “Without doubt. He should have done it years ago. They have got plenty of people there who have got good leadership qualities who could take over.

“It is obvious that at his age and the state Zimbabwe is in, he’s not really able to provide the leadership that could get it out of its predicament,” Khama added.