PICS: Joy and celebrations after Mugabe resigns

Published Nov 21, 2017

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Harare - Wild celebrations broke out in parliament and on the streets of Harare after Robert Mugabe resigned as

Zimbabwe's president on Tuesday.

The 93-year-old had clung on for a week after an army

takeover and expulsion from his own ruling ZANU-PF party, but

resigned shortly after parliament began an impeachment process

seen as the only legal way to force him out.

Celebrations broke out at a joint sitting of parliament

when Speaker Jacob Mudenda announced Mugabe's resignation and

suspended the impeachment procedure.

People danced and car horns blared on the streets of Harare

at news that the era of Mugabe - who has led Zimbabwe since

independence in 1980 - was finally over.

Some held posters of army chief General Constantino Chiwenga

and former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking this

month triggered the military takeover that forced Mugabe out.

"I am very happy with what has happened," said Maria Sabawu,

a supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change

(MDC), outside the hotel where the impeachment process was

happening.

"I have suffered a lot at the hands of Mugabe’s government,"

she said, showing her hand with a missing finger that she said

she lost in violence during a presidential run-off election

between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008.

Mugabe is the only leader Zimbabwe has known since a

guerrilla struggle ended white-minority rule in the former

Rhodesia.

During his reign, he took the once-rich country to economic

ruin and kept his grip on power through repression of opponents,

although he styled himself as the Grand Old Man of African

politics and kept the admiration of many people across Africa.

Despite the outpouring of joy on the streets, Mugabe's

downfall was as much the result of in-fighting among the

political elite as a popular uprising, although thousands of

people rallied against him in the days after the army intervened

last week.

The army seized power after Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa,

ZANU-PF's favourite to succeed him, to smooth a path to the

presidency for his wife Grace, 52, known to her critics as

"Gucci Grace" for her reputed fondness for luxury shopping.

Mugabe's refusal to resign prompted the impeachment

procedure. His resignation letter, read out by the parliamentary

speaker, did not indicate any preferred successor. Speaker

Mudenda said he was working on legal issues to make sure a new

leader was in place by the end of Wednesday.

Mnangagwa, the former vice president whose whereabouts are

unknown after fleeing the country in fear for his safety, is

seen as the most likely to take over.

A former security chief known as The Crocodile, he was a

chief lieutenant to Mugabe for decades and stands accused of

participating in repression against Zimbabweans who challenged

the leader.

Reuters reported in September that Mnangagwa was plotting to

succeed Mugabe, with army backing, at the helm of a broad

coalition.

The plot posited an interim unity government with

international blessing to allow for Zimbabwe's re-engagement

with the world after decades of isolation from global lenders

and donors.

Mugabe led Zimbabwe's liberation war and is hailed as one of

post-colonial Africa's founding fathers and a staunch supporter

of the drive to free neighbouring South Africa from apartheid in

1994.

But many say he has damaged Zimbabwe's economy, democracy

and judiciary by staying in power for too long and has used

violence to crush perceived political opponents. The country

faces a foreign exchange payments crisis and roaring inflation.

Since the crisis began, Mugabe has been mainly confined to

his "Blue Roof" mansion in the capital where Grace is also

believed to be.

Reuters

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