The military incursion into the democratic transition of Zimbabwe has finally terminated the 37 years reign of President Robert Mugabe, and subtly dismantling the ancient dynasty that has tacitly been transforming Zimbabwe into a one-party state. He has been the head of the ZANU-PF, Zimbabwean ruling party, for decades.
Mugabe has in the past two weeks ignored the uprising and revolutionary movements in the country that trailed the sacking of the Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, known as “The Crocodile” in Zimbabwean politics. Mnangagwa, a former Security Chief in the country, immediately went on self-exile, paving way for urgent military intervention.
After the military consultations towards getting Mugabe to resign did not yield direct result, the military chiefs, being sensitive to international monitor on democracy, manipulated the ruling party in the country, ZANU-PF, to enforce the resignation of Mugabe through democratic process.
That arrangement culminated into the moves for the removal of Mugabe as leader of the ZANU-PF, rerunning the former vice president to lead the party.
ZANU-PF subsequently issued order to Mugabe to resign as President of Zimbabwe to pave way for transparent election but the embattled president ignored it until an impeachment process was conceived.
Being conscious of the consequences of impeachment in which he could lose all his rights as a former president, Mugabe threw in the towelon Tuesday, ending decades of his reign since 1980 from when he rose from being Prime Minister to President of Zimbabwe.
In all the drama, Zimbabwe may be returning to military democracy as in Egypt where the army can step in and remove any president, supervising fresh elections in which the leader of the revolutionary movement often becomes the winner and new president of Egypt.
Mugabe’s fall was not only predicated on his long years of leadership he has won all elections but more of the crisis over who succeeds him.
However, the exit of Mugabe may open Zimbabwe to the 21st century multiparty democracy and transparent competitive elections.