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...Mugabe's ploy puts the West in the classic dilemma of either propping up a despot with taxpayer-funded food aid or withholding it, whereupon the Left will immediately yell "Bush is using food as a weapon!". For example, last year the Christian Science Monitor ran an opinion piece from a Mennonite Pastor denouncing malnutrition as a "weapon" in the context of Cuba. Why should it be different from Zimbabwe:
Ever since President Carter's discredited sanctions preventing grain sales to Russia, most US politicians have disavowed the use of hunger as a weapon. In 2000, George W. Bush said in a presidential debate, "We shouldn't be using food as a diplomatic weapon." For good reason: Food embargoes don't work. Aiming "weapons of malnutrition" at Cubans will only weaken America's moral standing in an era of great challenge to its foreign policy. The correct path for US-Cuba relations goes in a different direction.
Unfortunately for the Left, even if the evil Bush administration meekly handed Mugabe all the grain he could glom there's a good chance his despicable and corrupt regime would simply sell or hoard it. One way or the other, what is nearly certain is that conditions will continue to worsen. The second probability is that Mugabe will not react gently to Stay Away. He has gotten away with so much, so often from the spineless "International Community" -- you know the one that provides unparalleled "legitimacy" -- that he will odds-on overdo his response. What then? I think Professor Stanford Mukasa, a Zimbabwean teaching journalism at a US college had it right when he said that Zimbabweans could not expect the cavalry to ride over the hill, massacre or no.
Zimbabwe is not sitting by the rivers of Babylon, he said. Many people outside the country cannot understand why there has been an absence of anger for so long. We know how ruthless and brutal the Mugabe fascist regime can be they are terrorizing the population. But the international community is looking to the people of Zimbabwe to stage a spontaneous uprising. The question is can they do it on their own or do we look to civil leadership to play that role?
Well, maybe not the US Cavalry but George Bush has been looking for a few good men. At a meeting with Thabo Mbeki recently, President Bush said:
the South African leader gave him a briefing on regional efforts to help end the political crisis in Zimbabwe, where Washington says April legislative elections were neither free nor fair. "Obviously, we are concerned about a leadership that does not adhere to democratic principles, and obviously concerned about a country that was able to, for example, feed itself and now has to import food as an example of the consequence of not adhering to democratic principles," he said.
President Mbeki says he told Mr. Bush that African leaders are working with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders to encourage them to look at changing the constitution and the legislature to create the political basis for a stable, democratic system. "What is really critically important is to see in what ways we can support the opposition party and the ruling party in Zimbabwe to overcome their problems," he said. "And clearly one of the critically important things to do is to make sure that you have the political arrangements that address matters of the rule of law."
This suggests that GWB is looking for a regional partner that can actually intervene in Zimbabwe if it falls to pieces, but that Mbeki isn't biting, for now. All the same, I wouldn't be surprised if the U.S. European Command, which has responsibility for Southern Africa, isn't drawing up some contingency plan on what it will take to support the RSA if it has to go into Zimbabwe. Bottom line: things are going to have to get a lot worse before Mbeki and the "International Community" get themselves in gear. But when they do success will depend on the groundwork that is even now being laid by the USA. Given Mugabe, it is just a question of when.
posted by wretchard at 6:55 AM
ZIMBABWE READIES FOR NATIONWIDE STRIKE
Background: Zimbabwe officially Mugabes fiefdom, Opposition to protest Zimbabwe crackdown.
It seems that this country, long tortured by tyranny, is at a crossroads in which there is no turning back. Mugabe is crushing the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people, imposing a forced famine, and preparing to scatter his urban opposition to the country side. On this very day, the new parliament will open for the first time and Mugabe will officially unveil his constitutional changes: a rubberstamp senate, the nationalization of land, and domination of the electoral commission. The dictatorship is real. If the people dont do something, and do it quickly, Zimbabwe will be a one-man country perhaps literally. Sadly, nobody else seems willing to help.
Its going on mid-day in Zimbabwe, where not a person is unaware of the call to stay away from work over the next two days. Just yesterday, the legal opposition MDC party officially backed the strike. Police combed the streets in preparation, deploying hundreds of guards and keeping the army on standby. They have said that anyone who participates will be arrested; this after nearly 23,000 were detained during Operation: Clean-up. ...
...According to the multiple reports Ive read, it does appear that many facilities are open. Most stories seem to be based on a single Reuters article. However, it also appears that there is nobody going to them....
...ZWNews.com is reporting that the police were deployed to the suburbs in order to thwart and intimidate people planning to go on strike. They have even sent out fake messages to cellphones saying that the strike has been called off! Trudy Stevenson, an opposition parliamentarian, claims that the police have spent the morning rounding up and shipping people off.
Besides this, there is little original reporting at the moment. What I gather is that the government has Harare pinned down completely with its blockades and police presence. Anyone who does not leave their house and go to work faces arrest and confiscation of what little belongings they have. I guess that leaves little choice. More on this as the situation develops.
The African Development Bank said the strategic reserves have become so depleted that commercial millers have been stopped from buying supplies from the state. The shortage of corn has also raised prices of the staple food as 1.6 million Zimbabweans already depend on food aid, it said. The nation has 92,000 tons in store, the bank said in its latest economic bulletin, but imports of another 150,000 tons are needed to meet consumer demand before the new harvest lands on the market. In one province, three-fourths of planted corn was written off after a prolonged dry spell and other areas reported having had too much rain. The state grain marketing agency sells locally grown corn to milling companies that is about $110 cheaper than imports for each ton.
The bank said the reserve stock was now only being used for distribution paid for by the government to needy communities. But it said these supplies were "erratic and in consistent." "This is because the reserve grain is insufficient and transporters are not willing to move it to the affected areas because they are not paid on time," the bank said. The United Nations World Food Program said in a separate statement that the peak hunger period before the next harvests posed "the highest level of food insecurity" seen in the past three years. It said aside from weather patterns, the recent planting season was hit by shortages of seed and fertilizer. Less farmland was also planted with maize, the corn staple, as more small scale growers turned to tobacco and other cash crops with quicker and better financial returns, the U.N. food agency reported.
Farmers' organizations have forecast total grain harvests this year of about 1.2 million tons. Annual consumption by the population of nearly 13 million is 2.2 million tons. Zimbabwe's finance ministry, controlled by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party in a shaky coalition with longtime President Robert Mugabe, says it can't raise enough money to import the shortfall for distribution by the Grain Marketing Board, the state grain sales monopoly, and wants private enterprises to share the burden. Mugabe's party insists private importers are driven by profit that puts food basics out of the reach of ordinary Zimbabweans who live on about $1.50 a day. In the troubled economy, many families survive on a single meal a day.
Before the often violent seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms began in 2000, Zimbabwe exported its corn surplus and was seen as a regional breadbasket. The African Development Bank said Zimbabwe must give priority to restoring collapsed irrigation schemes and save dams and water reservoirs that have been damaged by silting, often with soil from illegal gold panning upstream. The government also "needs to come up with strategies to ensure that grain reserves are well stocked," it said.
Source
Mugabe seemed set to strengthen his hold over Zimbabwe after the state Election Commission said his party won 158 of the 210 parliament seats. That gives it a two-thirds majority in the legislature - enabling it to amend a recently approved constitution that provides for democratic reforms. Challenger Morgan Tsvangirai's party, which had gambled that a high turnout in its favor would overcome any alleged fraud in the vote, captured 50 seats and two went to independent candidates. According to the results, Mugabe won 61 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent for Tsvangirai, who had been prime minister in a tense power-sharing deal with the president. Officially, Mugabe, who has been in power for 33 years, gets another five-year term in office.
Tsvangirai rejected the results as fraudulent and called for fresh elections. He urged a peaceful response to the alleged massive rigging by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, which has the muscle of the security forces to deter any groundswell of street protests. In contrast to an election marked by deadly attacks in 2008, the vote on Wednesday was mostly peaceful and African poll monitors, while expressing some concern about reported irregularities, seemed mostly relieved that it was not violent. Britain and the United States were more forceful in their criticism of the voting process, though Mugabe has based his career in part on sparring with Western powers and there is little chance their disapproval will sway him.
That leaves the Zimbabwean opposition with few options for countering Mugabe, who presides over a country that still has economic problems but enjoys some measure of stability compared to a period of soaring inflation years ago. Tsvangirai said his Movement for Democratic Change party has in its possession evidence of massive rigging by Mugabe's party in the just-ended polls and will challenge results from Wednesday's voting in court. "People of Zimbabwe must be given another chance to participate in a free, fair and credible election. They have been shortchanged by a predetermined election," he said. He added that his party will not "participate in any government institutions" in protest but stopped short of saying it will boycott its reduced seats in the Harare parliament.
Mugabe's loyalist army and police have set up security posts in Harare on Saturday, apparently in case there are any protest demonstrations. "We are rejecting the results because they are fraudulent," Tsvangirai said. "We will go back to our people. Our people are the ones hurting. Our people are disciplined. We don't want a violent resolution to this crisis." He said a complete audit is needed of the shambolic lists of registered voters, which were made available to the parties only at the time of the election.
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Mr Mugabe, 89, won 61% of the vote, against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's 34%. Mr Tsvangirai earlier said the elections for parliament and president were fraudulent and promised to take legal action. He said his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would no longer work with Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. The two parties have been in a coalition since 2009, after the last election sparked widespread violence. Results from this week's parliamentary election showed the MDC had been trounced, winning just 49 seats compared with Zanu-PF's 158.
In a news conference before the presidential result was announced, Mr Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe was "in mourning". "The fraudulent and stolen election has launched Zimbabwe into a constitutional, political and economic crisis," he said. He said he would produce a dossier of the alleged electoral fraud and he called on the southern African regional bloc, Sadc, to investigate. His MDC colleagues had earlier called for a campaign of civil disobedience to isolate Zanu-PF. The European Union, which maintains sanctions on Mr Mugabe and his senior aides, said it was concerned about "alleged irregularities and reports of incomplete participation" in Wednesday's election. Former colonial power the UK said it had grave concerns about the conduct of the election, and urged a thorough investigation of all allegations of violations.
The US state department also called for an investigation and said the results were not a "credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people". Monitoring groups disagreed over the conduct of the election. The most critical account came from the largest group of monitors, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), which had 7,000 workers observing the vote. The organisation said problems with voter registration had left up to one million people unable to cast their ballots, mostly in urban areas regarded as MDC strongholds. On Saturday, one of the nine members of the election commission resigned over the way the election was conducted. Commissioner Mkhululi Nyathi said in his resignation letter: "While throughout the whole process I retained some measure of hope that the integrity of the whole process could be salvaged along the way, this was not to be."
However, the African Union, which had 70 observers, said its initial report suggested the election was "free and credible". The AU's mission chief Olusegun Obasanjo said there had been "incidents that could have been avoided" and asked Zimbabwe's election authorities to investigate claims that voters had been turned away from polling stations. Sadc, with 600 observers, broadly endorsed the election as "free and peaceful", but said it would reserve judgement on the fairness of the process. Major Western groups were not invited to send observer missions. Mr Mugabe has been president since 1987. He became prime minister when Zimbabwe won independence from the UK in 1980.
BBC News - Zimbabwe President Mugabe re-elected amid fraud claims
Today Zimbabwe's thrice-failed presidential contender, Morgan Tsvangirai, must surely be facing the real possibility of political oblivion following his party's crushing defeat in last week's election - and there are plenty of people who feel he deserves it. Even if the allegations of massive rigging are comprehensively proven, and Zimbabwe's neighbours eventually grumble and huff about a re-run, President Robert Mugabe has no reason to fear any serious challenge to his now formidable grip on power. So why blame Mr Tsvangirai?
Critics argue the MDC leader erred in sharing power with President Mugabe
Some critics argue that the MDC leader's defining mistake was his decision - after pulling out of the 2008 election because of the rising violence against his supporters - to join President Mugabe in a power-sharing government. As such, the argument goes, Mr Tsvangirai enabled his rival to cling onto power at the moment when he was weakest. Mr Tsvangirai's move was certainly controversial at the time - and bitterly opposed by some of his closest colleagues in the MDC - but I personally think it was a noble move. Zimbabwe was in a deep crisis - the economy in meltdown. By joining a unity government, Mr Tsvangirai seemed to be putting the broader interests of a bruised population ahead of his own. A more cynical - and yes, perhaps pragmatic - politician might have gambled that he could profit from an ever-deeper national crisis. But to my mind, Mr Tsvangirai's mistake was not in grudgingly agreeing to share power with Mr Mugabe, but in refusing to stand up for himself in government.
Abusive relationship
On the very first day, when Zimbabwe's army commanders refused to salute him as Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister, Mr Tsvangirai should have quietly stood up, told the visiting dignitaries that he was sorry they'd come on a wasted journey, and walked out of the deal. That would have shown a few people. By failing to do so he signalled to President Mugabe that he was the compliant, junior partner in an abusive relationship that endured until last week. To extend that metaphor, Mr Tsvangirai - the battered victim - kept talking up the close working rapport he'd established with Mr Mugabe, pontificating about the importance of reconciliation, and hoping that with time and effort, his partner would mend his ways and democracy would follow. Instead, Mr Mugabe - by turns domineering, and contemptuously polite - blocked, parried, and changed the rules as he went along, until he finally rushed Zimbabwe into an election on his own terms.
Some say Mr Tsvangirai should have pulled out of that election ahead of time, when it became clear that Mr Mugabe had no intention of allowing time for a proper voter registration period, or of revealing the now highly suspect voters roll. Instead, Mr Tsvangirai went ahead and legitimised an election that he now describes as a sham. Was it another noble move, or a combination of naivety and over-confidence? At some point soon that question may be answered by his own party activists, and - much further down the line - by Zimbabwean voters.
BBC News - Zimbabwe's Morgan Tsvangirai facing political oblivion
These are the first such official figures - the number of rejected voters has been a major complaint. It also said 207,000 voters were "assisted" to cast their ballot - another alleged source of fraud. President Robert Mugabe gained 938,085 more votes than his main rival. Morgan Tsvangirai, who took 34% of the vote, has alleged massive fraud. His Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party is planning to file court applications against the results of the presidential and parliamentary votes. Mr Mugabe, 89, won with 61% of the presidential vote and his Zanu-PF gained a two-thirds majority in parliament, with 160 seats compared to 49 for the MDC.
'Raid feared'
African and regional monitors praised the poll for being peaceful but noted some irregularities. Western observers were not invited to witness the 31 July vote. But a local observer group, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) and its network of 7,000 observers, has said that about one million voters were "systematically disenfranchised" by being omitted from the voters' roll or turned away. The electoral roll has come in for criticism for having duplicate names and the names of dead Zimbabweans - the MDC says it has found 838,000 entries with the same name, address and date of birth but different ID number, 350,000 people who are more than 85 years old and 109,000 aged over 100. The BBC's Brian Hungwe in the capital, Harare, says the figures of those turned away from polling station represents 8.7% of votes cast. According to the electoral commission's statistics, the largest number of turned away voters - 64,483 - were in Harare. The MDC has stronger support in towns and cities and Zesn says voters had most trouble registering in urban areas.
Robert Mugabe took 61% of the vote compared to Morgan Tsvangirai's 34%
In its assessment of the election, the African Union observer mission noted that it was concerned by the high number of assisted voters nationwide. The MDC says that "assisted voters" - supposedly the illiterate or infirm - were made to vote for Zanu-PF. The Zec figures show that assisted voting happened more in the rural areas, Zanu-PF's stronghold, where, according to Zesn, 99.97% of voters were registered. Our reporter says such figures are shocking as the UN regards Zimbabwe as the most literate country in Africa and the number of assisted voters represents 5.9% of votes cast. An MDC lawyer told the BBC on Thursday that the party's headquarters in Harare were surrounded by police and there were fears the office would be raided. The party, which had been in a coalition with Zanu-PF for four years following disputed elections in 2008, is expected file its appeals within the seven days of the results, which were announced on Saturday 3 August. This could be as late as next Wednesday as the MDC's legal team says weekends are not counted and next Monday and Tuesday are public holidays.
The court then has 14 days to deliver a judgement. If the court upholds the results, Mr Mugabe must be sworn in within 48 hours of the ruling. A week after the election, Mr Mugabe dismissed criticism of the polls and lashed out at Western countries for their concerns about the vote. "We are very happy that we have dealt the enemy a blow, and the enemy is not Tsvangirai," AFP news agency quoted the president as saying. "Tsvangirai is a mere part of the enemy. The enemy is he who is behind Tsvangirai. Who is behind the MDC? The British and their allies. Those are the ones who were the real enemies." Mr Mugabe has long accused the British of trying to oust him from power in its former colony because of his policy of seizing white-owned land.
BBC News - Zimbabwe Electoral Commission: 305,000 voters turned away
Lawyers for Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s party filed a legal challenge on Friday against the outcome of a crunch election that gave veteran Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe another five-year term. Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) charge in a court appeal that the July 31 vote was a “farce” that was riddled with fraud and should be declared invalid. “The prayer that we seek is that this election be declared null and void and also that a fresh election be held within 60 days,” MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told journalists outside the constitutional court where the party’s petition was lodged. The election ended a shaky power-sharing government formed four years ago by Mugabe and Tsvangirai following a bloody election in 2008.
Zimbabwe’s electoral commission declared Mugabe the winner with 61 percent of the vote in last week’s election, against Tsvangirai with 34 percent. However, local observers have called the polls flawed and Western powers have raised serious doubts over the vote. Both the US and former colonial power Britain have questioned the credibility of the vote, while Australia has urged a rerun. However, regional powers were less critical, with the Southern African Development Community calling it “free and peaceful,” but stopping short of describing it as fair. The African Union declared it fair, while at the same time raising concerns about voters being turned away and about the electoral roll.
Yet independent monitors from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network said more than 750,000 urban voters were missing from the electoral list, while rights groups said some people were forced by Mugabe supporters to feign illiteracy and vote in the presence of police and election officials. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on Thursday said that nearly 305,000 Zimbabwean voters were turned away because their names were missing from the voters’ roll, they were registered elsewhere or they did not have adequate identification. Data show that the largest number of voters — 64,483 — were turned away in the capital, Harare. Urban areas have long been a stronghold of Tsvangirai’s MDC party. “The person on trial is not the Movement for Democratic Change. The person on trial is Mr Mugabe and his government. It’s also the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and, I daresay, the judicial system of Zimbabwe,” Mwonzora said.
The spokesman said his party has evidence of names which appeared more than once on the voters’ roll. The MDC is seeking an audit of the voters’ roll, ballots and voter registration. It has also appealed to the high court to compel the electoral commission to produce copies of the voters’ roll and provide the presidential election results for each constituency. In the court documents, the MDC also alleges that an Israeli company was paid US$10.5 million to manipulate the voters’ roll. “What is more worrying is the involvement of an Israeli firm, Nikuv Projects International, in the development, management and manipulation of the voters’ roll,” the court petition reads. The court challenge could delay 89-year-old Mugabe’s inauguration for his sixth term as president. The country’s top court has 14 days to issue a ruling.
Zimbabwean opposition contest Mugabe victory - Taipei Times
Journalists congregate Friday outside outside Zimbabwe’s constitutional court, which will determine who will be the head of this southern African country. Last week, the Zimbabwe Election Commission declared that Mugabe had handily defeated Tsvangirai, 61 percent to 34 percent. On Friday, just before the close of business, a spokesman for Tsvangirai's MDC party came out of the Constitutional Court. MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said, “The Movement for Democratic Change has filed its election petition. The prayer we are seeking is that this election be declared null and void in terms of section 93 of the constitution of Zimbabwe, also a fresh election be called within 60 days.”
Mwonzora also said the MDC had 15 reasons detailing why they want the president's re-election nullified. Those reasons include alleged bribery of the electorate by some of the contesting candidates and lack of professionalism by the Zimbabwe Election Commission [ZEC]. The MDC accuses ZEC of rigging the July 31 election in favor of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. Outside the constitutional court was Tafadzwa Mugwadi, a ZANU-PF youth leader. He said he believes the challenge will fail. “The MDC is challenging peaceful elections that were held in this country. That is an instruction coming from Sydney, coming from Canbera, Ottawa, it is coming from America, it is coming from the British," said Mugwadi. "We are not worried by the challenge because it will not amount to anything, because certainly the president is going to be sworn in."
It is not clear when Mugabe might take the oath of office for a new term. Under Zimbabwe’s constitution, once there is litigation, the swearing-in of a president is withheld until the case is finalized. The constitutional court has 14 days to dispose of the case. If the election is nullified, fresh polls will be called in 60 days. If the case is dismissed, Mugabe will be sworn in within 48 hours after the ruling. Zimbabwe’s election is set to dominate the meeting of Southern African leaders in Malawi next week. In 2008, African leaders refused to recognize an election in which Mugabe had claimed victory over Tsvangirai. They forced the two to form a fragile power-sharing government, which ended with the July 31 elections. The polls were Tsvangirai’s third attempt to defeat Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980.
http://www.voanews.com/content/zimb...lenge-to-mugabe-election-victory/1726802.html
General Constantino Chiwenga, a revolutionary who rose up the ranks to become head of the country's armed forces in 2004, threatened to use military force to defend the positions of ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) figures who played a role in ending U.K. rule over Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, in 1980. While Chiwenga did not name names Monday, his frank statement came a week after President Robert Mugabe fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, an influential independence leader who has held various high-ranking positions in the government. "The current purging which is clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background must stop forthwith," Chiwenga said at a news conference at the army's headquarters in Harare, according to BBC News. "We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in," he added.
Mugabe suddenly sacked Mnangagwa last week after accusing his deputy of conspiring against him and using witchcraft to determine when the president would die. Two days later, Mnangagwa fled Wednesday to South Africa, complaining of "incessant threats" against him and his family, Bloomberg News reported. Mnangagwa has denied taking part in any plots against the president, whose wife, Grace Mugabe, had recently suggested she could succeed her 93-year-old husband. With Mnangagwa gone, Grace Mugabe was anticipated to inherit her husband's 37-year rule. The jobs of other officials who worked under Mnangagwa were reportedly on the line as well. Minister for State Security Kembo Mohadi, Home Affairs Deputy Minister Obedingwa Mguni, provincial chairman Rabelani Choeni, Central Committee members Reni Kibi, Tambudzani Mohadi, Abednigo Ncube and others close to Mnangagwa have been placed under investigation and will not be permitted to participate in next year's elections, Zimbabwe's The Herald reported.
Mnangagwa's dismissal has upset many current and former military figures, who have viewed Grace Mugabe's younger faction of support with distrust. In addition to being vice president, Mnangagwa headed Zimbabwe's Joint Operations Command, of which Chiwenga was a member and the general's comments signaled a community alienated by the president's recent decisions. Robert Mugabe has already announced his intentions to seek another five-year term in Zimbabwe's 2018 elections, but he may face a handful of rising stars and a potential seven-party coalition attempting to challenge one of the longest political tenures of the past century. The last election in 2013 was criticized by Zimbabwe's opposition and international agencies over reports of irregularities and opponents of the president blame him and his party for decades of corruption and massive economic mismanagement.
Zimbabwe army chief threatens to "step in" if President Mugabe's purge continues
Tuesday's statement from the ZANU-PF party was released amid worries that the military might be taking action to oust longtime President Robert Mugabe. Witnesses reported tanks and armed personnel carriers moving on roads outside the capital; however, Harare was calm and embassies issued no security alerts for their citizens. A spokesman for the State Department told VOA, "We are aware of the reports and are monitoring the situation."
Soldiers stand beside military vehicles just outside Harare, Zimbabwe
The current tension was sparked last week when President Robert Mugabe fired his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and accused him of disloyalty and plotting to seize power. Many observers saw the move as a step toward the installation of Mugabe's wife, Grace Mugabe, as vice president. That would put the first lady in position to become president when her 93-year-old husband retires or dies.
At a Monday news conference, the head of Zimbabwe's armed forces, General Constantino Chiwenga, warned he would "step in" unless Mugabe stopped trying to purge the ruling ZANU-PF party of Mnangagwa supporters. Dozens have been arrested since the vice president was fired on November 5. Tuesday's ZANU-PF statement, signed by party information secretary Simon Khaya Moyo, said that Chiwenga's comments were "clearly calculated to disturb national peace and stability" and meant to "incite insurrection and violent challenge to the Constitutional Order."
President Robert Mugabe talks to General Constantino Chiwenga in Harare, Zimbabwe.
President Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the country won independence from Britain in 1980. Mnangagwa, 75, was seen for years as a likely successor to the president, and maintains strong backing in the army. He is now believed to be in South Africa. Grace Mugabe, 52, has support in the party's youth wing and is believed to have engineered the firing of another vice president, Joice Mujuru, in 2014.
Zimbabwe Ruling Party Accuses Army Chief of Treason
Neither First Lady Grace Mugabe, nor her main rival in the contest to succeed the autocratic 93-year-old president – the recently-ousted vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa – offer a prosperous future to a country once dubbed the breadbasket of Africa. Mnangagwa appeared to have the upper hand as of early Thursday, with unconfirmed reports claiming he has been appointed interim president, after Mugabe was placed under house arrest by a military angered by Mnangagwa’s sacking.
The army insisted it had not carried out a coup – despite having seized the presidential palace and the state broadcaster – but was instead targeting “criminals” around the president, whom it said was “safe” at home.. “This is not a military takeover of government,” it said in a statement. “What the Zimbabwe Defense Forces is doing is to pacify a degenerating political, social and economic situation in our country which if not addressed may result in violent conflict.”
But the head of the African Union, Guinea’s president Alpha Conde, described the episode as “clearly soldiers trying to take power by force” and calling for the immediate restoration of constitutional order. (The A.U. in 2013 suspended Egypt after the military toppled President Mohammed Morsi; Zimbabwean military chiefs’ denials of a coup may be a bid to avoid similar A.U. action.) If Mugabe has indeed been toppled, it looks like the consequence of a palace intrigue linked to his succession, rather than the result of popular resistance against an authoritarian regime.
A power struggle between Grace Mugabe and the vice-president Mnangagwa culminated in her demands for his dismissal, leading to his removal from the post earlier this month, accused by the government of “disloyalty.” His dismissal cleared the way for Grace Mugabe to be appointed vice-president, when the ruling ZANU-PF party holds a special congress in December. With the army’s intervention, however, that looks unlikely to happen. Grace Mugabe’s whereabouts are unknown, although she is rumored to have fled the country.
‘Sometimes, the cure may be worse than the disease’
Mr. Mugabe, 93, who took power upon independence from Britain in 1980, is the only leader Zimbabwe has known. He has suppressed perceived threats to his dominance, often brutally, and maneuvered with guile to outflank his rivals. Decades after the furling of Britain’s union flag, he waved his liberation credentials with such skill and frequency that he stood as an emblem, however flawed, of Africa’s yearning to be free of outside control. Viewing himself as Africa’s true statesman, Mr. Mugabe, even in his 90s, flew regularly to diplomatic gatherings on the continent, including mundane ones in which he was sometimes the only head of state present. Though he is despised in the West and by many Zimbabweans, many Africans view him as a living, historic figure, inspiring diplomats and officials to stand and applaud his speeches criticizing Western powers.
In the end, though, his deft touch deserted him as he weighed the question looming over the end of his regime: who would succeed him. By favoring his polarizing and politically inexperienced wife over his powerful vice president, whom he fired last week, Mr. Mugabe overestimated the loyalty of the military and security elite who took him into custody early Wednesday in what appeared to be a coup. Mr. Mugabe’s family became his blind spot. He miscalculated the fierce anger that their unrestrained behavior caused in his nation, now suffering through another period of deep economic crisis. Though active in politics for only a couple of years, his wife, Grace Mugabe, 52, made it increasingly clear that she wanted to succeed her husband. “If you want to give me the job,” she told her husband at a gathering this month, “give it to me freely.”
Mr. Mugabe’s sons, who are in their 20s, have added to the anger among Zimbabweans by regularly posting pictures of their lavish lifestyle and partying on social media sites. Last week, a video emerged showing Mr. Mugabe’s younger son, Bellarmine Chatunga, pouring Champagne over an expensive watch on his wrist. On his Instagram feed, he wrote, “$60 000 on the wrist when your daddy run the whole country ya know!!!” Whatever happens now, experts and analysts said, the days of Mr. Mugabe’s unrivaled hold on Zimbabwe seem at an end. That is a message that offered an unpalatable reminder to leaders who have clung to power for decades in Africa — from Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon to Eritrea and Uganda. Even the wiles of a politician of Mr. Mugabe’s stature do not guarantee success to those who seek to extend their tenure indefinitely.
In Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, Mr. Mugabe’s precise fate remained uncertain on Wednesday, but many Zimbabweans referred to his house arrest as the end of his unchallenged rule and the start of a new chapter in their lives. “I’m happy now,” said Donald Mutasa, 37, who was born at the start of the Mugabe era. “I feel like we have just gained independence. I am hopeful we are walking into a new Zimbabwe.”
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Johnson was on Wednesday asked in the House of Commons by Labour Party MP Kate Hoey to make an urgent statement on the situation in Zimbabwe. Johnson’s statement to Parliament was followed by an address by British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday, where she described the situation in Zimbabwe as “still fluid”, while urging restraint on all sides in Zimbabwe. “The events of the last 24 hours are the latest escalation of months of brutal infighting within the ruling Zanu PF party, including the sacking of a vice-president, the purging of his followers and the apparent positioning of Grace Mugabe as a contender to replace 93-year-old husband,” Johnson said. “Honourable Members on all sides of the House have taken a deep interest in Zimbabwe for many years — and I pay tribute to the courage and persistence of the Honourable Member for Vauxhall, who has tirelessly exposed the crimes of the Mugabe regime, visiting the country herself during some of its worst moments.”
Johnson said the House could not tell how developments in Zimbabwe would play out in the days ahead and whether this marked the downfall of Mugabe or not. “In that spirit, all that Britain has ever wanted is for Zimbabweans to be able to decide their own future in free and fair elections. Mugabe’s consuming ambition was always to deny them that choice,” he said. “The House will remember the brutal litany of his 37 years in office: the elections he rigged and stole, the murder and torture of his opponents, the illegal seizure of land, leading to the worst hyperinflation in recorded history — measured in billions of percentage points — and forcing the abolition of the Zimbabwean dollar.”
The British Foreign Affairs secretary accused Mugabe’s followers of looting and plundering the richly endowed country. “Zimbabweans today are, per capita, poorer than they were at independence in 1980, leaving many dependent on the health care, education and food aid provided by the Department for International Development,” he said. Johnson said the British Embassy in Harare had been monitoring the situation carefully throughout the night (of the disturbances), supported by staff in the Foreign Office, adding that about 20 000 Britons live in Zimbabwe and so far, they were all safe. He said he would do everything to ensure Zimbabweans decide their own future.
Hoey then asked Johnson to explain to the House if it was not a coup to ensure that former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa takes over. “Although it is not a coup to ensure that the military want to run the country, it is a coup to ensure that former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa takes over. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that changing from one ruthless leader to another ruthless leader will not help to create the conditions that can lead to genuinely free and fair elections in the coming year, and will not solve a dire economic situation in which thousands of people are destitute and food is scarce?” Hoey queried. Johnson said it was too early to comment on the outcome of the events in Zimbabwe, or to be sure how things would unfold.
‘Mugabe remembered for brutal 37-year rule’ - NewsDay Zimbabwe
