An ambassador to SA from the official opposition political party in Zimbabwe says all indications are that Zimbabwe is heading to military rule.
While the Zimbabwean Defence Forces was at pains to reassure the world that the country was not in the midst of a coup, political experts and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change disagree.“There are mixed reports‚ we are not really sure what is happening‚” said Austin Moyo‚ the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) shadow ambassador.
There was frenzied speculation of a coup but Maj-Gen Sibusiso Moyo said in a televised address in Harare that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces would guarantee the safety of Mugabe and his family, and was only “targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice”.
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| Emmerson Mnangagwa - The Next President Of Zimbabwe? |
But in the past week the country’s war veterans and its white farmers have come together as unlikely allies in a new battle: to unseat President Robert Mugabe (93) and curb the ambitions of his wife, Grace.
Together with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) — led by the recently sacked vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa — and with what is thought to be the backing of the armed forces, the farmers and war vets have vowed to form a transitional government whose aim will be to return Zimbabwe to its past glory.
An intervention is sorely needed. Zimbabwe stands once again on the brink of hyperinflation and economic collapse, amid the disastrous introduction of a new currency, foreign exchange shortages, a spike in food prices, a spiralling deficit and an unpayable public sector wage bill.
For decades, they were on opposite sides of a ferocious battle over Zimbabwe’s most prized asset: its land. Aid agencies have warned that last year’s severe drought, crumbling infrastructure and low agricultural production have sparked a surge of hunger cases this year.
In a response to public fury, Mugabe’s government has responded the only way it knows how: by rounding up journalists, banning public protests, threatening “clean-up” sweeps of opposition areas and clamping down on social media users who dare to condemn the president.
Senior figures have not been spared this purge of challengers to Mugabe’s 37-year grasp on power. Mnangagwa’s ousting last week came as a shock to even Zanu-PF’s most loyal stalwarts, with Mugabe accusing him of “disloyalty” and plotting against him.
It was an eruption in long-simmering tensions between Mnangagwa and his camp in Zanu-PF (known as the Lacoste faction because of the former vice-president’s nickname, “the Crocodile”) and Grace Mugabe’s young Turk faction, “Generation 40”.
The MDC, religious groups, the former Commercial Farmers’ Union — they are saying this man [Emmerson Mnangagwa] is the one who holds the light to a new and prosperous Zimbabwe ...
