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Despite his reputation as one of Africa's most outspoken figures, Khama's remarks are certain to raise hackles in Harare, where factions of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party are locked in a bitter struggle to succeed the only leader Zimbabwe has known. Asked by Reuters if Mugabe, who came to power after independence from Britain in 1980, should accept the reality of his advancing years and retire, 63-year-old Khama responded: "Without doubt. He should have done it years ago." "They have got plenty of people there who have got good leadership qualities who could take over," Khama, the UK-born son of Botswana's first president, Seretse Khama, and his British wife, Ruth, continued. "It is obvious that at his age and the state Zimbabwe is in, he's not really able to provide the leadership that could get it out of its predicament," Khama said, in comments that breach an African diplomatic taboo banning criticism of fellow leaders.
President of the Republic of Botswana, Seretse Khama Ian Khama
Botswana, the world's largest producer of diamonds, shares 800 km (500 miles) of border with Zimbabwe and has felt the full effects of its neighbour's economic collapse under the weight of political violence and hyperinflation since 2000. Although the economy stabilised in 2009 with the scrapping of the worthless Zimbabwe dollar, a slump in commodity prices over the last two years has triggered a cash crunch that has fed through into unprecedented public anger at Mugabe. No clear potential successor has emerged from the destabilising factional fight to take over after Mugabe. Khama said the instability was damaging Botswana's efforts to wean itself off mining - which accounts for 20 percent of GDP and nearly 60 percent of exports - by promoting itself as a regional logistics and services hub.
Two statues of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe were unveiled at State House, the president's official residence and office in the capital Harare
The unrest was also forcing more and more Zimbabweans to leave the country, he added. Botswana is home only to an estimated 100,000 Zimbabweans - a fraction of the 3 million believed to be in South Africa - although this is still enough to strain public services in a nation of 2.3 million people. Botswana's jails held "significant numbers" of Zimbabweans, Khama said. "It is a big concern," the British-trained former general said. "It is a problem for all of us in the region - and it is a burden. There's no doubt about that."
RESURRECTION MAN
The ruling ZANU-PF party announced its support in the southeast town of Masvingo, where the party's youth wing even proposed that Mugabe should rule for life with broad powers. Opposition groups have described such adulation as a sign that Mugabe and his loyalists are out of touch with the desperation of a nation that is suffering massive unemployment, cash shortages and company closures.
Despite the praise, Mugabe has acknowledged that some people within the ruling party have wanted him to quit. "Let us stop fighting each other," he said, referring to the succession fights that have engulfed his party. Mugabe has been in power since the southern African nation's independence from white minority rule in 1980. But a deteriorating economy has increased the pressure on him, and he has faced opposition protests in the past year.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addresses people at an event before the closure of his party's 16th Annual Peoples Conference in Masvingo, about 300 kilometres south of the capital Harare, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016. Mugabe officially opened the conference where he is set to be endorsed as the ruling party candidate for Presidential elections set for 2018.
Even so, the ZANU-PF party rallied around Mugabe at its annual conference. Most delegates wore the party's colors of red, green, black and yellow, as well as Mugabe's portrait. Speaker after speaker extolled his virtues. One Cabinet minister named Supa Mandiwanzira did so by making a pun about his own first name. "I am not super, Mr. President. It is you who is super," he said, introducing the president.
Kudzai Chipanga, leader of the party's youth wing, suggested that Mugabe's ID and birth certificate should be changed to read "President Robert Mugabe." Mugabe, who won the 2013 election that was marred by allegations of voting irregularities, has seemed frail at times but still travels widely and says he wants to live to 100.
News from The Associated Press
He went on to express his support for Mr Trump's America-first policy, saying "America for Americans" and "Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans". It is unusual for the veteran head of state to publicly back any US president. The US imposed sanctions such as travel bans and an assets freeze on Mr Mugabe and his allies in 2001. The sanctions were imposed over allegations of human rights abuses and election rigging. Zimbabwe's government says they caused the country's economic collapse. Most experts however blame Mr Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms, which used to be Zimbabwe's economic backbone.
With Mr Trump's reputation for being unconventional, Mr Mugabe is hoping his administration might decide to lift the sanctions. "Give him time," Zimbabwe's leader said of Mr Trump in an interview aired ahead of his 93rd birthday on Tuesday. "Mr Trump might even re-look [at] the sanctions on Zimbabwe." President Trump has caused global uproar over his policies, including his ban on people from seven mainly Muslim countries entering the US, although this has been overturned by the courts, and his pledge to rebuild the US economy on "America-first" principles.
Robert Mugabe is known for his fierce opposition to previous US presidents
Mr Mugabe is unfazed by such policies as he seems to identify with Mr Trump's brand of nationalism. "When it comes to Donald Trump... talking of American nationalism, well America for America, America for Americans - on that we agree. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans," Mr Mugabe said. As far as the nonagenarian president is concerned, there is more hope with Mr Trump in the White House than if it had been Hilary Clinton. "I was surprised by his election, but I did not like Madam Clinton to win either," he said. "I knew she could slap sanctions on us as a legacy."
President Mugabe, Africa's oldest head of state, also repeated that he is not ready to step down from power. "The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, successor who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am," he told state media. His Zanu-PF party has endorsed Mr Mugabe as its candidate in elections due next year.
Robert Mugabe: Give Donald Trump a chance - BBC News
In an extraordinary evening newscast, state broadcaster ZBC — for decades, a mouthpiece for the Mugabe government — reported on the surging campaign for his ouster and showed video of ruling party members saying he should resign. Clad in a blue academic gown, the 93-year-old leader earlier joined academics on a red carpet and sat in a high-backed chair in front of several thousand students and guests, a routine he has conducted for many years as the official chancellor of Zimbabwe’s universities. This time, however, the spectacle was jarring because the authority of the world’s oldest head of state, once seen as impregnable, is evaporating daily.
That Mugabe was permitted to go to the Zimbabwe Open University event possibly reflected a degree of respect by the military for the president, a former rebel leader who took power after independence from white minority rule in 1980. The armed forces are in a delicate position, sending tanks and troops into Harare’s streets this week to effectively end the Mugabe era, while refraining from more heavy-handed measures that would heighten accusations that they staged a coup and violated the constitution. Meanwhile, the ruling ZANU-PF party signaled impatience with Mugabe amid negotiations on his exit. Party branches passed no-confidence votes in all 10 Zimbabwean provinces, and the state-run Zimbabwe Herald newspaper said all called for the resignation of Mugabe and his wife. They seek a special meeting within two days of the party’s Central Committee.
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Demonstrations were called for Saturday in Harare to support the military’s move against Mugabe, who drew applause from the graduating students on the outskirts of the capital only when he made brief, perfunctory remarks, usually to bestow degrees on delighted graduates. The military said it supports plans for a march, as long as the demonstration is orderly and peaceful. “It was a long struggle,” graduate Arthur Chipra said of the years of effort that went into his master’s degree in conflict resolution. He declined to say anything when asked what he thought about Mugabe’s presence at the ceremony, highlighting the lingering caution of many in a country where people have been prosecuted for criticizing the president.
Discontent with Mugabe has been growing because of the dire state of the economy, concerns about corruption and mismanagement, a sense that he is no longer physically capable of leading the country due to advanced age and the ambitions of his wife, Grace Mugabe, to succeed him. The military stepped into the factional battles of the ruling party on Wednesday after the firing of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is close to the armed forces and was heavily criticized by both Mugabes.
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Zimbabwe's sidelined President Robert Mugabe, who has been under house arrest since a military takeover earlier this week, is refusing to step down, creating a potential crisis over his succession. The military staged what it insists was not a coup, but rather a "bloodless correction," on Wednesday, saying its aim was not to target Mugabe himself, but the "criminals around him who are committing crimes." Several senior officials have been detained in the wake of the army's move, according to the BBC. Even so, negotiations are underway to get Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since it gained independence 37 years ago, to voluntarily resign. At 93, he is insisting that he be allowed to serve out his term until elections next year.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attends the second session of the South Africa-Zimbabwe Bi-national Commission last month.
But in an indication of how much things have changed in recent days, NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports that the ruling ZANU-PF party, long viewed as Mugabe's personal fiefdom, is meeting Friday to work on a draft resolution that could lead to his impeachment next week. Journalist Jeffrey Barbee tells Morning Edition that in the past few days, Zimbabwe has been "surviving on rumors." "There's almost no security on the streets. Everything is quiet," he says. Since his government was toppled, Mugabe has been holed up with his wife, Grace, in his "Blue Roof" compound in the capital, Harare.
Despite his house arrest, Mugabe's motorcade on Thursday was seen leaving his home and proceeding to State House, where he was photographed meeting with military chief Constantino Chiwenga — the man who staged Wednesday's takeover — as well as South African ministers sent to help mediate the crisis. Later, Mugabe arrived at a university graduation ceremony in Harare to deliver a speech, his first public appearance since the takeover. The army's takeover came a week after Mugabe sacked Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to make room for his wife to assume leadership of the ruling party and the country's presidency. After his removal, Mnangagwa, 75, who had been locked in an intraparty factional feud with Mugabe, fled to South Africa, where he vowed to challenge the president's authority.
Defiant Mugabe Refuses To Step Down As Zimbabwe's President
