News

Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF plots Mugabe’s impeachment

Published

9 years ago

November 20, 2017

Indications are emerging that African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) may have embarked on plots to impeach President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

It was gathered that the Chief Whip of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) – the same political party which Mugabe belongs to, stated that the Party will discuss the impeachment of Mugabe, after a noon deadline expired for the 93-year-old to end his nearly four decades in power by resigning from office.

Impeachment could see Mugabe kicked out by a vote in parliament in under a day and would represent an ignominious end to the career of the “Grand Old Man” of African politics, who was once lauded across the continent as an anti-colonial hero.

ZANU-PF Chief Whip Lovemore Matuke said the party’s Members of Parliament would meet at 1230 GMT to start mapping out Mugabe’s impeachment.

It was revealed that legally, the process is relatively long-winded, involving a joint sitting of the Senate and National Assembly, then a nine-member committee of senators, then another joint sitting to confirm his dismissal with a two-thirds majority.

However, constitutional experts said ZANU-PF had the numbers and could push it through in as little as 24 hours.

ALSO SEE: Mugabe, wife in military custody as Army vehicles patrol Harare streets

“They can fast-track it. It can be done in a matter of a day,” said John Makamure, Executive Director of the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust, an NGO that works with the parliament in Harare.

Mugabe’s demise, now almost inevitable, is likely to send shockwaves across Africa, where a number of entrenched strongmen from Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila are facing mounting pressure to step aside.

Mugabe was once admired, even in the West, as the “Thinking Man’s Guerrilla”, a world away from his image in his later years as the stereotypical African dictator proudly declaring he held a “degree in violence.”

As the economy crumbled and opposition to his rule grew in the late 1990s, Mugabe tightened his grip around the southern African country, seizing white-owned farms, unleashing security forces to crush dissent and speaking of ruling until he was 100.

The Power Game

ZANU-PF’s action follows a weekend of high drama in Harare, culminating in reports that Mugabe had agreed on Sunday to stand down – only for him to dash the hopes of millions of his countrymen in a bizarre and rambling national address.

Flanked by the generals who sent in tanks and troops last week to seize the state broadcaster, Mugabe spoke of the need for national unity and farming reform, but made no mention of his fate, leaving the nation of 16 million people dumbstruck.