SAN FRANCISCO, November 19, (THEWILL) – Robert Mugabe has been removed as President of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party and replaced by his former vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the deputy he sacked recently.
In the latest episode in Zimbabwe’s unfolding drama, Mugabe’s wife, Grace was also expelled and stripped of the leadership of the women’s wing of the party.
The decisions were taken on Sunday in a move to force a peaceful end to Mugabe’s 37 years in power following a de facto military coup.
“A resolution has been adopted to recall the president and elevate Mnangagwa as the party president,” a party delegate, who declined to be named, revealed.
“He has been expelled, Mnangagwa is our new leader.”
Speaking before the meeting, war veterans’ leader Chris Mutsvangwa said the 93-year-old Mugabe was running out of time to negotiate his departure and should leave the country while he could.
“He’s trying to bargain for a dignified exit,” he said.
Mutsvangwa followed up with threat to call for street protests if Mugabe refused to go, telling reporters: “We will bring back the crowds and they will do their business.”
Mnangagwa, a former state security chief known as “The Crocodile,” is now in line to head an interim post-Mugabe unity government that will focus on rebuilding ties with the outside world and stabilizing an economy in freefall.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Harare, singing, dancing and hugging soldiers in an outpouring of elation at Mugabe’s expected overthrow.
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