Zimbabwe's Mugabe, coup chief meet with smiles and handshakes

[webfact]

Zimbabwe's Mugabe, coup chief meet with smiles and handshakes

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

 

FILE PHOTO: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe attends the launch of basic commodities in Harare, Zimbabwe July 16, 2008. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo

 

HARARE (Reuters) - A smiling President Robert Mugabe was pictured shaking hands with Zimbabwe's military chief a day after the army seized power, throwing confusion over predictions that the 93-year-old's nearly four-decade rule had come to an end.

 

Mugabe unexpectedly drove from his lavish "Blue Roof" Harare compound in Harare, where he had been confined since troops took to the streets, to State House, where official media pictured him meeting military chief Constantino Chiwenga and South African ministers sent to mediate the crisis.

 

The official Herald newspaper carried no reports of the outcome of the meeting, leaving Zimbabwe's 13 million people in the dark as to what was happening as night fell on Thursday.

 

Mugabe is insisting he remains Zimbabwe's only legitimate ruler and is refusing to quit, but pressure was mounting on the former guerrilla to accept offers of a graceful exit, sources said on Thursday.

 

Earlier, a political source who spoke to senior allies holed up in the compound with Mugabe and his wife Grace said he had no plans to resign voluntarily ahead of elections due next year.

 

"It's a sort of stand-off, a stalemate," the source said. "They are insisting the president must finish his term."

 

The army's takeover signalled the collapse in less than 36 hours of the security, intelligence and patronage networks that sustained Mugabe through 37 years in power and built him into the "Grand Old Man" of African politics.

 

A priest mediating between Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on Wednesday in what they called a targeted operation against "criminals" in Mugabe's entourage, has made little headway, a senior political source told Reuters.

 

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called for Mugabe's departure "in the interest of the people". In a statement read to reporters, Tsvangirai pointedly referred to him as "Mr Robert Mugabe", not president.

 

The army may want Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, to go quietly and allow a smooth and bloodless transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president Mugabe sacked last week triggering the political crisis.

 

The main goal of the generals is to prevent Mugabe from handing power to his wife Grace, 41 years his junior, who has built a following among the ruling party's youth wing and appeared on the cusp of power after Mnangagwa was pushed out.

 

The last of Africa's state founders still in power from the era of the struggle against European colonisation, Mugabe is still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero. But he is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power pauperised one of Africa's most promising states.

 

Once a regional bread-basket, Zimbabwe saw its economy collapse in the wake of the seizure of white-owned farms in the early 2000s, followed by runaway money-printing that catapaulted inflation to 500 billion percent in 2008.

 

Millions of Zimbabweans, from highly skilled bankers to semi-literate farmers, emigrated, mostly to neighbouring South Africa, where an estimated 3 million still live.

 

After briefly stabilising under a 2009-2013 power-sharing government, when Mugabe was forced to work with the opposition, the economy has once again cratered, with dollars scarce, inflation surging, imports running out and queues outside banks.

 

DOORS BLOWN OFF

 

A fighter, both literally and figuratively during a political career that included several assassination attempts, Mugabe may now have reached the end of the road.

 

With the army camped on his front door and the police - once seen as a bastion of support - showing no signs of resistance, force is not an option. Similarly, he has little popular backing in Harare, where he is widely loathed, and his influence in the ruling ZANU-PF party is evaporating.

 

ZANU-PF youth leader Kudzai Chipanga, a vocal Mugabe supporter, publicly apologised for opposing the army after being marched by soldiers into the state television headquarters to read out a statement, sources at the broadcaster said.

 

He was then taken back to the army's main KGVI (pronounced KG Six) barracks in Harare, where Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo is also being held, an army source said.

 

Video footage obtained by Reuters from the houses of two key allies of Grace Mugabe - cabinet ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere - indicated that the army was also prepared to use force if necessary.

 

Moyo's front door was blown open with explosives, scattering glass across the entrance hall, while the inside walls of Kasukuwere's house were pocked with bullet holes.

 

The pair managed to escape on the evening of the coup and make it to Mugabe's compound, where they remain under effective house arrest, one political source said.

 

Zimbabwean intelligence reports seen by Reuters suggest Mugabe's exit was in the planning for more than a year.

 

Mnangagwa, a former security chief and life-long Mugabe confidant known as "The Crocodile", is the key player.

 

According to the files and political sources in Zimbabwe and South Africa, once Mugabe's resignation is secured Mnangagwa would take over as president of an interim unity government that will seek to stabilise the imploding economy.

 

Fuelling speculation that this plan might be rolling into action, 65-year-old Tsvangirai, who has been receiving cancer treatment in Britain and South Africa, returned to Harare late on Wednesday.

 

"SOLID HANDS"

 

Ex-finance minister Tendai Biti added to that speculation, telling Reuters he would be happy to work in a post-coup administration as long as Tsvangirai was also on board.

 

"If Morgan says he's in, I'm in," said Biti, who earned international respect during his time as finance minister in the 2009-13 government. "The country needs a solid pair of hands so one might not have a choice."

 

South Africa said Mugabe had told President Jacob Zuma by telephone on Wednesday that he was confined to his home but was otherwise fine. The military said it was keeping him and his family, including Grace, safe.

 

Despite admiration for Mugabe among older African leaders, there is little public affection for 52-year-old Grace, an ex-government typist who began an affair with Mugabe in the early 1990s while his first wife Sally was dying of kidney failure.

 

Dubbed "DisGrace" or "Gucci Grace" on account of her reputed love of shopping, she enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks of ZANU-PF in the last two years, culminating in Mnangagwa's removal. Zimbabweans, including the Mnangagwa camp and the military, interpreted the vice president's ouster as a move to clear the way for her to succeed her husband.

 

In contrast to the high political drama unfolding behind closed doors, the streets of the capital remained calm, with people going about their daily business, albeit under the watch of soldiers on armoured vehicles at strategic locations.

 

(Additional reporting by Linda Muriuki and Joe Brock in Harare and Ed Cropley and James Macharia in Johannesburg; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Peter Graff)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-17

[webfact]

Fate of Zimbabwe's Mugabe hangs in the balance amid coup confusion

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

 

President Robert Mugabe (C) in a meeting with the ZDF Commander General Constantino Chiwenga, South African Minister of Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula (in yellow head gear), Zimbabwe Defence Minister Dr Sydney Sekeramayi and Zimbabwe State Security Minister Cde Kembo Mohadi at State House in Harare, Zimbabwe November 16, 2017. ZIMPAPERS/Handout via REUTERS

 

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's fate hung in the balance on Friday as he apparently resisted efforts to step down in the wake of an audacious seizure of power by the army, until this week a key pillar of his 37-year-rule.

 

The unfolding drama in the capital Harare was thrown into confusion when a smiling Mugabe was pictured shaking hands with Zimbabwe's military chief, the man behind the coup, raising questions about whether or not the end of an era was nigh.

 

Mugabe unexpectedly drove on Thursday from his lavish "Blue Roof" compound, where he had been confined, to State House, where official media pictured him meeting military boss Constantino Chiwenga and South African mediators.

 

The official Herald newspaper carried no reports of the meeting's outcome, leaving Zimbabwe's 13 million people in the dark about the situation.

 

The army may want Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, to go quietly and allow a smooth and bloodless transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president Mugabe sacked last week, triggering the crisis.

 

The main goal of the generals is to prevent Mugabe from handing power to his wife Grace, 41 years his junior, who has built a following among the ruling party's youth wing and appeared on the cusp of power after Mnangagwa was pushed out.

 

Mugabe, who at 93 has appeared increasingly frail in public, is insisting he remains Zimbabwe's only legitimate ruler and is refusing to quit. But pressure was mounting on the former guerrilla to accept offers of a graceful exit, sources said.

 

Zimbabwe’s former head of intelligence, Dumiso Dabengwa, was to hold a news conference in Johannesburg at 1200 GMT. A South African government source said he expected Dabengwa, a close ally of the ousted Mnangagwa, to discuss the events in Zimbabwe. "It seems there is some sort of agreement," the source said.

 

The army's takeover signalled the collapse in less than 36 hours of the security, intelligence and patronage networks that sustained Mugabe through almost four decades in power and built him into the "Grand Old Man" of African politics.

 

Mugabe is still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero. But he is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power pauperised one of Africa's most promising states.

 

Once a regional bread-basket, Zimbabwe saw its economy collapse in the wake of the seizure of white-owned farms in the early 2000s, followed by runaway money-printing that catapulted inflation to 500 billion percent in 2008.

 

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley in Johannesburg; Writing by Ed Stoddard)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-17

[phantomfiddler]

Nice to see that he has lost that omnipotent look :)

[NeilSA1]

He must go, hopefully without blood shed. So far the army has handled this matter well. The people of Zimbabwe deserve fresh hope, although it remains to be seen if one dictator will be swopped with another. At the end of the day his wife, Grace, must definitely be precluded from any political power.   

[RichardColeman]

He wont be happy if they lay crimes against humanity against him later.

[BuaBS]

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

Nice to see that he has lost that omnipotent look :)

He does look good for a 93 year old .

[Enoon]

 

2 hours ago, NeilSA1 said:

He must go, hopefully without blood shed. So far the army has handled this matter well. The people of Zimbabwe deserve fresh hope, although it remains to be seen if one dictator will be swopped with another. At the end of the day his wife, Grace, must definitely be precluded from any political power.   

 

It has yet to fully sink in that they now hold the power and he does not.

 

They still afford him respect and remain politely "accommodating", seeking some sort of "constitutional" arrangement.

 

When he abuses that attitude (as he surely will) it will change.

 

 

 

[Mansell]

I spent some time in Harare before they switched to the US dollar. It was a nightmare with the Zim dollar.....at that time it was a million Zims to five US dollars. To go out for the evening I would put five million in all my pockets.....I think the largest bill was 50,000 . The supermarkets had bill counting machines like a bank. You would see a customer with a briefcase full of money just to buy the weeks groceries. I had brought over 1,600 US dollars to help a blind and physically disabled boy get an education. I changed the money with a Zimbabwe friend who needed hard currency. I walked out of his place with 320 million Zim dollars in a rolling suitcase as the money was really heavy.....some of it still in its banks plastic wrapping.

I found all the people I met in the country very friendly and happy to talk with me. At one point a friend and I walked around in downtown Harare for three hours and never saw another white person.....but at no time did we feel threatened or in danger. Everybody was friendly to us. 

It will be a blessing to see Mugabe go....the man has used up his time to go date. Maybe, maybe the country will have a chance to get back to being the bread basket of Southern Africa.

[Baerboxer]

Where are all the Junta bashers hiding on this thread? The ones who repeatedly say there's no excuse for a coup, and that democracy must prevail.

 

Why aren't they jumping up and down defending the democratically elected Mugabe from these terrible fascist Generals?

 

Conspicuous by their absence - You know who you are!

 

Just hope he goes peacefully and doesn't allow the despicable Grace to stir up violence.

[Baerboxer]

5 hours ago, BuaBS said:

He does look good for a 93 year old .

 

And a small fortune has been spent to make sure of that.

 

Plenty of overseas medical trips. Just like the average citizens!

[sanuk711]

You have got to admire Robert Mugabe.

He had so much power but let us not forget he first started out years ago just modelling on jam jars.................

[RuamRudy]

2 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

You have got to admire Robert Mugabe.

He had so much power but let us not forget he first started out years ago just modelling on jam jars.................

 

Is there something that I don't quite understand in your post, or are you actually getting at what I think you are getting at?

[craigt3365]

19 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

Where are all the Junta bashers hiding on this thread? The ones who repeatedly say there's no excuse for a coup, and that democracy must prevail.

 

Why aren't they jumping up and down defending the democratically elected Mugabe from these terrible fascist Generals?

 

Conspicuous by their absence - You know who you are!

 

Just hope he goes peacefully and doesn't allow the despicable Grace to stir up violence.

Zimbabwe is far from being a truly democratic nation.

[stevenl]

19 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

Where are all the Junta bashers hiding on this thread? The ones who repeatedly say there's no excuse for a coup, and that democracy must prevail.

 

Why aren't they jumping up and down defending the democratically elected Mugabe from these terrible fascist Generals?

 

Conspicuous by their absence - You know who you are!

 

Just hope he goes peacefully and doesn't allow the despicable Grace to stir up violence.

Better read up on democracy before calling Mugabe democratically elected.

[Lokie]

I was hoping he was finished, time will answer that.

 

They sucker up to him as they need him to resign then it is not a coup, they do not want to risk intervention by SA etc in support of the Zim (Mugabe's) Govt. This may be more a case of getting shut of his Mrs and reinstating his right hand man again... Not much will change for the average man on the street - hope I'm wrong on that but like a bad penny...

[bendejo]

I saw him on the television news a few weeks ago, he was unable to walk without assistance.  I feel a little guilty bashing a feeble old man, but he is a nasty piece of work, especially in the past 15 years or so.

Send him off to live out his years on and island in the middle of the ocean, and send his buddy Zuma with him.  And also his wife Cruella. 

Hopefully the next guy in will be a little better.