The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s military was in control of the country on Wednesday as President Robert Mugabe said he was under house arrest, although generals denied staging a coup.
Neighbouring South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, one of Mugabe’s closest allies, said he had spoken to the veteran leader by telephone.
Mugabe “indicated that he was confined to his home but said that he was fine,” the South African government said in a statement that called for calm and restraint.
Mugabe’s decades-long grip on power appeared to be fading as military vehicles blocked roads outside the parliament in Harare and senior soldiers delivered a late-night television address to the nation.
“The president… and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed,” Major General Sibusiso Moyo said, slowly reading out a statement.
“We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes… As soon as we have accomplished our mission we expect that the situation will return to normalcy.”
Moyo said: “This is not a military takeover of government”.
But the generals’ actions posed a major challenge to the 93-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.
Tensions between Mugabe and the military establishment, which has long helped prop up his authoritarian rule, erupted in public over recent weeks.
The ruling ZANU-PF party on Tuesday accused army chief General Constantino Chiwenga of “treasonable conduct” after he criticised Mugabe for sacking vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
– Government silence –
Mnangagwa’s dismissal left Mugabe’s wife Grace, 52, in prime position to succeed her husband as the next president — a succession strongly opposed by senior ranks in the military.
As the situation deteriorated overnight, prolonged gunfire was heard near Mugabe’s private residence.
On Wednesday, the TV state broadcaster played liberation struggle songs, while many citizens in Harare shopped at markets, drove to work or queued outside banks despite the turmoil.
The US embassy warned its citizens in the country to “shelter in place” due to “ongoing political uncertainty”.
And if he reinstates Mnangagwa? Won’t he be reinstated himself? This is a mutiny and should be condemned by all peace-loving people, followed by sanctions. He had confided in certain close friends that he was to resign this year on Christmas….so what is the hurry of these indisciplined soldiers for?
MUGABE for quite some time now, has not been the president and some people around him have been using the kavuyo to position themselves.
On the other hand,just like we have here in Uganda, a certain group of people have that sense of entitlement and feel untouchable.
MUGABE had reached his sale by date and the law of diminishing returns had set in a very long time and someone who was once an admired intellectual had long become an embarrassment.
I think for his own good and that of the country, it is best the way it is, just as long as they do not harm him or those close to him.
AND he has been setting a bad example because some leaders are using him as the benchmark. It is when you my good friend RWASUBUTARE has a neighbour who beats his wife,it looks almost normal,and even almost noble if you and your wife have a shouting match once in a while.
Some of us who had been to good old Zimbabwe in the 80s and saw what a beautiful country it was then, and then hear the horror stories that come out now feel embarrassed when people even mention the name of the once hated and dreaded Ian Smith with Zimbabwe in the same sentence let alone paragraph.
The way things have gotten in Zimbabwe, it is almost fair to assume that any change can not be worse than the current state of affairs.
Let us give change a chance , just like my good friend M 9 always wants WAR to be given a chance.