Zanu-PF fires Mugabe, wife

Embattled Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has been fired from Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) and given until midday today to resign as that country’s president.

A special Zanu–PF Central Committee meeting made the resolution yesterday, according to international media reports quoting Mugabe’s newly appointed Minister of Cyber Security Patrick Chinamasa as having said the 93-year-old leader faces impeachment if he does not step aside by this afternoon.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also reported that the ruling party has since appointed fired vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa as Zanu-PF second secretary; replacing Mugabe, who was the revolutionary party’s first secretary.

According to BBC, Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, has also been expelled from Zanu-PF.

The Zimbabwean First Lady is widely accused by critics of taking advantage of her husband’s old age to assume his powers and allegedly abuse public resources with her close associates, according to the country’s State-run daily newspaper, The Herald.

On Saturday, thousands of people took to the streets in a mass show of defiance to force Mugabe to step aside from power, accusing him of ruling the nation with an iron fist and continuously messing up its socio-economic and political gains.

Recently, the president sacked Mnangagwa for reportedly plotting to oust him from power. The dismissal prompted the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) to intervene on the issue against Mugabe’s continued “purging” of critics within the government.

Reports indicated recently that Mnangagwa’s firing was meant to pave the way for Mugabe’s wife who was repositioning herself to succeed her husband later next month as Zanu-PF leader and eventually as Zimbabwe’s head of State after next year’s presidential elections.

There was no immediate reaction from Mugabe on the ultimatum. n