Robert Mugabe stays on

Robert Mugabe(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

The army takes over, but Robert Mugabe can stay on

The aim is to prevent Grace Mugabe from becoming vice president. The army has taken over control in Zimbabwe, but most likely the president of the country will still remain to be Robert Mugabe. It’s the president’s wife, Grace Mugabe, the generals are attempting to keep from gaining power.

 

According to Sky News’ sources, Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, has left Zimbabwe after that the military took control over the country. She has allegedly fled to Namibia.

It has long been obvious that Grace, and her clique are preparing to take over the power when Robert Mugabe dies, not very different from what Winnie Mandela attempted to do in South Africa. Given his rapidly detoriating health , that can happen any day now. It is drastic what we are witnessing in Zimbabwe, but it is by no means surprising, says a Norwegian diplomat with close ties to the African country.

Mass demonstrations against Mugabe in Zimbabwe

Thousands of protesters on Saturday gathered in Harare, demanding that the country’s 93-year-old president Robert Mugabe must step down.

On Wednesday, the army in Zimbabwe took overtook the power and placed the 93-year-old president in house arrest, but denies that it is a military coup.

Mugabe, who has been increasingly been the authotarian leader of the country for 37 years, refuses to step down, despite the fact that even the ZANU-PF party is now backing the popular demand.

War veterans

Zimbabwe’s war veterans, who have previously supported Mugabe, Saturday urged for mass protests, and in the morning busloads arrived with protesters coming from all over the country.

– We want to restore our pride and Saturday is the day we can finish the work the military has initiated, says chairman of the Association for War Veterans in Zimbabwe, Chris Mutsvangwa,.

The Association, along with the military, supports former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who on Tuesday was dismissed by the President.

Jolly mood

The atmosphere in the streets of Hararare was colourful and merry in the morning hours, and car horns were blaring and people were dancing and singing.

The protesters had posters requiring Mugabe to resign and the soldiers followed it all from the sidelines.

– It’s a Christmassy atmosphere, says one of the protesters, Fred Mubay, who believes that the Zimbabweans have suffered long enough from the mismanagement

 

Facts on Robert Mugabe

  • Robert Gabriel Mugabe has been president of Zimbabwe since 1987, after being prime minister.
  • Mugabe was born was born February 21, 1924 northwest of Harare in what was then the British colony of Southern Rhodesia. He is an educated teacher and in addition has several university degrees.
  • In 1960, he joined the liberation movement fighting against the minority regime of his native country.
  • He was imprisoned in 1964, the same year as the minority regime broke with Britain and declared Rhodesia as an independent state.
  • After being released in 1974, he traveled to Mozambique. From there he led ZANU-PF’s guerrilla war against the regime.
  • In 1980, ZANU-PF won the first free elections in Zimbabwe, and Mugabe became prime minister. Since then he has ruled with a heavy hand, as prime minister and later president.
  • Mugabe has led a confrontational policy towards the West and the minorities in Zimbabwe. He is also accused of being responsible for the economic problems facing the formerly prosperous country for the last thirty years.
  • Following the controversial presidential election in 2009, he had to appoint his opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai as the prime minister, but after being re-elected in 2013, he once more took total political control.
  • He is married, for the second time, with Grace, 41 years his junior, with whom he has three children.

 

©  VG /NTB Scanpix / Norway Today