Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe went off script when he refused to resign the presidency during a rambling speech on Sunday night, his opponents have claimed.
Sitting alongside a cadre of generals who have been keeping him under house arrest since Wednesday, the 93-year-old boldly vowed to fix problems within the ruling Zanu-PF party himself rather than hand power to ousted vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
As Zimbabweans and millions watching across the world digested the news, a tweet from party headquarters - which has been issuing statements on behalf of Mugabe's opponents since the military took power - said: 'All the old man needed to do was stick to the script.
'Now we must remove him. We gave Robert Gabriel Mugabe every chance to have a dignified exit. But he is mad.'
It initially seemed like military leaders had approved Mugabe's speech, as the Zanu-PF account sent out a message which read: 'Don't worry, be patient. We have been kind.'
But that tone changed suddenly as veterans leader Chris Mutsvangwa told journalists that plans for Mugabe's impeachment would be moving ahead as planned on Monday.
Mutsvangwa, who is a figurehead of the campaign to remove the ageing dictator, had previously given him a deadline of midday to stand aside.
'He won't last the week,' a senior Zanu-PF minister told MailOnline.
Mutsvangwa also vowed to hold streets protests in Harare on Wednesday amid fears that events could quickly turn to violence.
In his speech from the State House, Mugabe, who was wearing a dark suit and red tie, called for his nation to 'move forward'.
The announcement, which Mail Online understands was recorded earlier today, attracted the highest viewing numbers for the national broadcaster, ZBC, since 1980 when the Zanu-PF won power.
The broadcast was delayed by technical difficulties and was preceded by a screening of Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) song, as well as hours of revolutionary tunes on Zimbabwe's national broadcaster, ZBC.
The lyrics of one of the songs said, 'all of our problems have disappeared' in Shona, the local language. Another said: 'It was so difficult and so heavy, but because of you, God, we are here, we have conquered'.
Street celebrations, which began as news of the resignation broke, quickly broke down into a sense of despondency. The streets of Harare were deserted as Zimbabwe struggled to process the news.
There was almost no traffic on the streets and an eerie silence descended as people stayed indoors amid uncertainty about what may lie ahead.
One man, who asked not to be named, told MailOnline: ‘My dreams have all died. We are returning to a life of fear.’
Residents were concerned that the police, which had been withdrawn by the army, would return to the streets and start to enforce Mugabe’s repressive controls once again.
The speech came after MailOnline revealed that the elderly dictator was in a state of psychological collapse, crying for his dead son and late first wife, refusing to speak or wash and staging a desperate hunger strike.
Ahead of his meeting with army officials to discuss his exit, Mugabe was 'wailing profusely' and saying that he wished he could speak to his dead wife, Sally, and his late son, Michael Nhamodzenyika, who died from cerebral malaria in 1966 at the age of three.
'He spends most of his time looking at an old photograph of Sally. It is terrible,' the aide said of Mugabe's first wife, who died of kidney failure in 1992.
In 1996, Mugabe went on to marry his current wife, 'Gucci' Grace, who was also expelled from her role as head of the Zanu-PF Women's League 'forever'.
The frail dictator has been staging a hunger strike over his confinement in house arrest and is refusing to take regular baths or speak, the aide added.
The only person who has managed to get through to him was the Catholic cleric Father Fidelis Mukonori, who is mediating between Mugabe and the generals, the aide added.
Images of the meeting showed Mugabe, who wore a black suit, white shirt and red tie, with his hand to his head and deep in conversation with senior security officials, including army chief Constantino Chiwenga who led the military takeover earlier this week.
'President Robert Mugabe this afternoon met with Zimbabwe Defence Forces Generals at State House,' the Herald said on its Twitter feed, accompanied by photographs.
Impeaching the president is the next step when Parliament resumes, and lawmakers will 'definitely' put the process in motion, the main opposition's parliamentary chief whip told The Associated Press.