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Updated at 9.30pm
ZIMBABWE PRESIDENT ROBERT Mugabe appeared publicly Friday for the first time since the military takeover in a defiant gesture, but faces pressure to step down from his party ahead of weekend protests.
Leaders of eight of ten regional branches of the 93-year-old’s ruling ZANU-PF party took to state television in an apparently coordinated push to call for him to go.
“The province resolved unanimously to recall the president… from being the president of the party and the government,” said Cornelius Mupereri, a spokesman for the party’s Midlands region.
Mupereri was one of several branch officials to appear on ZBC’s nightly news to read almost identical statements calling on the liberation hero turned autocrat to resign for the good of the nation.
As well as increasingly vocal opposition from within his own party, Mugabe will face street protests tomorrow organised by veterans of the country’s independence war and supported by long-standing opponents of the president.
‘Now we’ve got a future’
The dramatic intervention by the regional leaders of Mugabe’s party caps a week of unprecedented turmoil in which generals seized power and put the veteran ruler under house arrest.
Ahead of his public appearance at a graduation ceremony in Harare today, Mugabe had been confined to house arrest after the military takeover – a stunning turnaround for the president who has ruled since 1980.
He attended the event in Harare dressed in a blue academic gown and tasselled hat, before listening to speeches with his eyes closed and applauding occasionally, an AFP correspondent reported.
Mugabe did not comment on the take-over by the generals who seized power late on Tuesday after vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa was sacked and Mugabe’s wife Grace emerged as the frontrunner to succeed him as president.
Mnangagwa, who had fled abroad after his firing, returned to the country yesterday and seems poised to play a central role in shaping developments.
Citizens were stunned by the military’s actions, which were sparked by the bitter succession battle between Grace and Mnangagwa.
“I’m happy with what the army has done, at least now we’ve got a future for our kids,” Teslin Khumbula, the owner of a security company, told AFP.
We don’t want Mugabe anymore… Please – everyone go to the streets.
‘Finish the job’
Mugabe and the army chiefs held talks yesterday to resolve the crisis, but no official update was given on the status of negotiations that could see him relinquish power.
Chris Mutsvangwa, chairman of the independence war veterans’ association which is seen as supporting Mnangagwa, said today that “the game is up” for Mugabe and called for protests against the president.
“We want to restore our pride and tomorrow is the day… we can finish the job which the army started.”
Veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war were loyal supporters of Mugabe, but they turned against him as friction grew between the president and the military.
Mnangagwa, 75, fled to South Africa following his dismissal and published a scathing rebuke of Mugabe’s leadership and Grace’s presidential ambitions.
The military said today they had detained some “criminals” in Mugabe’s government in a reference to supporters of Grace’s presidential hopes.
Grace has not been seen since the takeover by the military, which has not overtly called for President Mugabe’s resignation.
Morgan Tsvangirai, a former prime minister and long-time opponent of Mugabe, has said the president must resign “in the interest of the people”, adding that “a transitional mechanism” would be needed to ensure peace.
Harare’s residents have largely ignored the few soldiers still on the streets with shops, businesses and offices operating as usual.
The international community has been watching the crisis closely.
The United States has called for the army to quickly relinquish power following the takeover.
“We all should work together for a quick return to a civilian rule,” said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today ahead of talks with African foreign ministers.
In Paris, the head of the African Union, Guinea’s President Alpha Conde, warned on Thursday that the continent “will never accept the military coup d’etat”.
Britain, Zimbabwe’s former colonial ruler, said elections scheduled for 2018 should go ahead.
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Why don’t ye invent horse free meatballs ?
Didn’t take long……
Sky +. No more arguments about missing your favourite programme. The best invention by far in our house – the blessed record button !!!!
Thanks be to Sky
Even with Sky+ people cancel. Or they clash. The old way I think the best.
And there was I thinking it was Divorce that stopped domestic rows.
Me and the wife have the two sided elec blanket one in her room and one on mine.
Why do women always leave the toilet seat down ????
To keep the smell of the last man to use it at bay!
Everyone knows that girls are smelly and ugly! Why else would you wear make-up and perfume?
They must be queuing out the door with smooth talking like that…..
There’s a two-sided electric blanket…? How am I only hearing of this now…?
I know. I never heard of that until now.
Have 1 for years , bought in a small hardware shop in Goresbridge !
I never got the whole toilet seat thing.
You share?
Yeah, I prefer half toilets too.
Try aiming Gary..
The dishwasher is a total waste of money!! Hasn’t it been scientifically proven that women are better and faster dishwashers than machines?
Now that is the saddest comment of the year so far.
I don’t see a wife shutter upper machine on the list. We have the flippy toothpaste at home and I leave it open most of the time and I wouldn’t have an electric jacks seat in case I got a shock when my aim goes wonky after a few beers.
Eastenders and holby city buys me some peace every now and then
And we don’t have rows,because I’m right all of the time.
No disrespect meant Susan and point taken with my apologies.
Hey, no worries Glenn!
The automatic toilet seat is ridiculous. A better idea would be a toilet that will not flush until the lid is put down. It will solve the seat up/down argument and be much more hygienic, saving toothbrushes from micro-spray of fecal contaminants.
Why aren’t hurleys mentioned?
I just got sucked/tricked into reading an advertisement.. sneaky TheJournal.. very sneaky!! Now, can I have my two minutes back please?
Hi Thomas, Please note the reply to Glenn (above). This is clearly marked as a sponsored post, with branding and placed in a specially bordered box which shows that it is an ad and not a regular TheJournal.ie article. If you choose to click and read after all those flags, then that’s entirely your responsibility. We’re not in the business of tricking anybody (and I hope you enjoyed it anyway!).
Thanks, Susan, Editor, TheJournal.ie.
Thanks Susan – sure I was only messin’ – I enjoyed it so much I read it twice! :)
Thomas, did we just have our first domestic? To make up for it, I’ll load the dishwasher for a month ;)
So Ikea sponsor the Journal and now contribute editorials. They could do with learning what’s newsworthy and what isn’t.
Hi Glenn, This is clearly marked as a sponsored post, branded and posted in a specially flagged/bordered box to show so. There is no attempt to hide this and it is up to you whether you want to click into the ad and read it or not.
Thanks, Susan, Editor, TheJournal.ie.
I love the way you sneaked that ADD IN . Priceless .
Well done susan,ive no problem with the dishes,just eat in the mistresses house.
How are the meatballs going lads?
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