Harare — President Robert Mugabe is insisting he remains Zimbabwe’s only legitimate ruler, an intelligence source said on Thursday, and is resisting mediation by a Catholic priest to allow the 93-year-old former guerrilla a graceful exit after a military coup.
The priest, Fidelis Mukonori, is acting as a middleman between Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on Wednesday in a targeted operation against “criminals” in his entourage, a senior political source told Reuters.
The source could not provide details of the talks, which appear to be aimed at a smooth and bloodless transition after the departure of Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
Zimbabwean intelligence reports seen by Reuters suggest that former security chief Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was ousted as vice-president this month, has been mapping out a post-Mugabe vision with the military and opposition for more than a year.
Fuelling speculation that that plan might be rolling into action, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been receiving cancer treatment in Britain and SA, returned to Harare late on Wednesday, his spokesman said.
Former finance minister Tendai Biti said on Thursday he would be happy to work in any national unity government that emerged, but only if Tsvangirai was also on board.
“If Morgan says he’s in, I’m in,” Biti, who earned international respect during his time as finance minister in a 2009-13 unity government, told Reuters.
“The country needs a solid pair of hands so one might not have a choice.”
SA said Mugabe had told President Jacob Zuma by telephone on Wednesday that he was confined to his home but was otherwise fine and the military said it was keeping him and his family, including wife Grace, safe.
Though there is lingering admiration for Mugabe, hailed by some as a liberation hero, there is little public affection for 52-year-old Grace, a former government typist who had an affair with Mugabe in the early 1990s as his first wife, Sally, was dying of cancer.
Dubbed “DisGrace” or “Gucci Grace” on account of her reputed love of shopping, she enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks of Mugabe’s ruling Zanu (PF) in the last two years, culminating in Mnangagwa’s removal a week ago — a move seen as clearing the way for her to succeed her husband.
In contrast to the high political drama unfolding behind closed doors, the streets of the capital remained calm, with people going about their daily business, albeit under the watch of soldiers on armoured vehicles at strategic locations.
Whatever the final outcome, the events could signal a once-in-a-generation change for the former British colony, a regional breadbasket reduced to destitution by economic policies Mugabe’s critics have long blamed on him.
In another development, Zanu (PF) Youth League leader Kudzai Chipanga on Wednesday made a public apology on TV to the defence force.
The youth league had been a strong supporter of Mugabe and his wife Grace.
Chipanga said that “we learn from our mistakes and from this big mistake we’ve learnt a lot”.
“I emphasise that this statement which I have given‚ I have not been persuaded‚ neither forced nor coerced to do as such,” he said.
He said he was prepared to meet with the country’s commanders of the defence force in person to apologise to them.
It was an abrupt about-face for Chipanga, who on Tuesday accused the army chief of subverting the constitution.
“Defending the revolution and our leader and president is an ideal we live for and if need be it is a principle we are prepared to die for,” he said on Tuesday at the party’s headquarters in Harare.
Reuters
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