Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Once Robert Mugabe’s fiercest supporters, independence war veterans played a key role in ousting him, proving they still wield influence in Zimbabwe which only threw off colonial rule in 1980. Mugabe’s reign was built on support from three pillars — ZANU-PF party, the military and …
Read More »Zimbabwe court rules military takeover legal
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | A Zimbabwe High Court has ruled that the military takeover that led to Robert Mugabe’s ousting was legal, raising immediate concerns about judicial independence under the country’s new administration. Army chiefs put military vehicles on the streets of Harare and placed veteran leader Mugabe, 93, under …
Read More »Mnangagwa pledges new era as Zimbabwe president
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa vowed sweeping change at his swearing in on Friday, seeking to reassure foreign investors and pledging to fight poverty and corruption after Robert Mugabe’s shock resignation. In his inaugural address, Mnangagwa set out a programme of dramatic change that promised …
Read More »Zimbabwe’s political roller-coaster: What we know
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken over as Zimbabwe’s new leader, ending strongman Robert Mugabe’s 37-year reign and the country’s worst political crisis since independence. Here is a snapshot of two weeks of turmoil, from a military takeover to mass street protests and an …
Read More »Sorrow, admiration in Mugabe’s birthplace
Zimbabwe | AFP | Local residents in the rural Zimbabwean village where Robert Mugabe was born, got married, and has a house say he was a great leader — but express sorrowful acceptance rather than anger at his ousting. Kutama, 55 miles (90 kilometres) outside the capital Harare, has been …
Read More »A ray of hope for Zimbabwe’s ruined economy?
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Every time Chareka Mutungwazi, 76, tries to collect his pension money, he spends the night, like scores of others, sleeping outside a bank in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. He is lucky if he is allowed to take out just $20 of his monthly $63 (53 …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: Museveni and the army
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The top stories in this week’s The Independent COVER STORY Museveni and the army: Failing to learn from past mistakes? THE LAST WORD The tragedy of Robert Mugabe: How Western cunning exploited African gullibility to demonise the Zimbabwean president. POLITICS Muntu versus Amuriat: I …
Read More »Zimbabwe’s ‘Crocodile’ to snap up the top job
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Nicknamed “the Crocodile” for his ruthlessness, Emmerson Mnangagwa who will take over as Zimbabwe’s next president, is a hardliner with ties to the military who could prove as authoritarian as his mentor Robert Mugabe. It was his political ambition to take over which set off …
Read More »Zimbabwe’s next leader says post-Mugabe era is ‘full democracy’
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa told adoring crowds in Harare on Wednesday that they were witnessing “unfolding full democracy” as he returned to take power after Robert Mugabe stepped down after 37 years in power. It was his first public speech since Mugabe fired him …
Read More »Zimbabweans celebrate in S. Africa years after fleeing Mugabe
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Hundreds of Zimbabweans who fled their homeland for South Africa during the despotic rule of Robert Mugabe took to the streets of Johannesburg to celebrate the resignation of the hated president. Blowing vuvuzelas, waving Zimbabwean flags and stamping their feet, Zimbabweans danced their way …
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