Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe offered to send
his wife into exile in a foreign country in order to retain power. It
eventually took an army of Mugabe’s closest allies to persuade the president to
leave office, even as four tanks and armed soldiers surrounded him and Grace at
their private Harare residence.
On Friday tens of thousands of Zimbabweans made their way
to the National Sports Stadium, where former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa
was sworn in as the interim president.
With promises of economic renewal and stability,
Zimbabweans are cautiously hopeful but many international observers are wary of
the prominent role the Zimbabwe Defence Forces played in what amounted to a
coup over Zimbabwe’s leader of 37 years.
This week, the Mail & Guardian spoke to insiders and
security people who witnessed Mugabe’s harrowing final days in power.
On Tuesday afternoon last week, armoured personnel carriers
and tanks left the Inkomo barracks while Mugabe was chairing what was to be his
last Cabinet meeting at Munhumutapa, one of the most protected buildings in
Harare’s central business district.
By end of the day, nearly 40 army trucks, including tanks
and armoured personnel carriers, were stationed at the Two Presidential Guard
barracks at Dzivaresekwa, awaiting orders. Those orders, according to military
sources, came and by 9.30pm, the trucks left the army camp, moving along
Kirkman Road, heading towards central Harare and other key strategic areas.
Meanwhile, Mugabe appeared oblivious to the developments that happened during
the night.
First to be taken under siege was finance minister Ignatius
Chombo’s house in Mount Pleasant at about 11.30pm. By midnight, four tanks,
comprising Russian and Chinese-built T69s and T72s, headed to Mugabe’s mansion.
Mugabe’s military men, the Presidential Guard Brigade, headed by Zimbabwe
Defence Forces Commander General Constantino Chiwenga’s confidante Nhamo
Anslous Sanyatwe, had been briefed of the operation, which was later code-named
“Operation Restore Legacy”.
During the roundup, ministers linked to a rival Zanu-PF
faction who were on the army’s wanted list took refuge at the Blue Roof,
Mugabe’s palatial mansion. These included controversial minister Jonathan Moyo.
By sunrise on Wednesday Mugabe’s chief security man,
Central Intelligence Organisation director in charge of security Albert
Ngulube, had been seized by the army and there was a blackout on the security
situation. His motorcade also arrived at the Blue Roof but could not leave
without orders from Defence House.
“Mugabe’s security was shaken to the core when his house
was put under siege. He was made an ordinary man. His movements were now
limited. The army was clearly in control after tanks took position at strategic
places at Blue Roof,” said a senior security officer.
Between Wednesday last week and late Tuesday afternoon when
he bowed to pressure, Mugabe only left his Borrowdale mansion twice. First,
when he met military chiefs after the army took control of the capital and
major roads and second, when he officiated at a graduation ceremony at the
Zimbabwe Open University.
As the drama unfolded around the Mugabes, his wife Grace,
accused by many of triggering her husband’s demise, remained holed up in the
mansion despite false social media reports that she had fled to Namibia or
China.
She only experienced limited freedom of movement on Monday
morning at 11am when her white Land Cruiser V8 was escorted by two army
Mercedes sedans to her Mazowe empire, dubbed “Gracelands” by many. Sources said
while Grace was away in Mazowe, another round of talks commenced at the Blue
Roof.
Central Intelligence Organisation boss Daniel Nhepera,
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and Catholic priest Fidelis Mukonori came to
the Mugabe residence. As pressure intensified, the number of high-ranking
officials visiting Mugabe’s Borrowdale home increased.
On the day he tendered his resignation, Chief Secretary to
the Office of the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda, attorney general
Prince Machaya, Mukonori, Justice Minister Happyton Bonyongwe, Sekeramayi and
Mugabe spokesperson George Charamba had a morning meeting with Mugabe that
lasted about four hours.
Justice minister Happyton Bonyongwe and Attorney General
Prince Machaya are said to have made it clear to the nonagenarian that the
process of impeachment, which was underway during the negotiations, would open
All this happened as Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC-T
joined forces to drive an impeachment process. Earlier, his plan to convene a
Cabinet meeting failed after ministers linked to Mnangagwa boycotted the
meeting.
“This meeting marked the end game. He was cornered. He
wanted to ensure the safety of his family and that he was guaranteed,” said
another source familiar with the negotiations.
In telephonic talks with Mnangagwa, Mugabe reportedly
offered to have Grace flown to a foreign country to live out her days in exile,
as part of the negotiations.
“ED [Mnangagwa] told him that he should look around him,
that he always said he would leave when the people no longer loved him.
Saturday showed him that the people no longer loved him [Mugabe],” said an insider
privy to the negotiations.
Thousands of Zimbabweans marched outside his house last
Saturday, singing “zvikaramba toita zve jende [if it does not work, we will use
force]”.
“Mugabe spent his last moments as president on November 21
before and after being pressured to resign at 1.30pm at his Borrowdale mansion
in Harare, surrounded by close family friends and members of negotiating team
which was engaged in talks between him and the military,” a close family member
said.
“He was with Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, his
spokesman George Charamba, acting director general of the Central Intelligence
Organisation Aaron Daniel Tonde Nhepera and close family friend, former Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, who was invited to join the negotiating
team by Mugabe’s family on Friday November 17,” said a witness to the
negotiations.
To mark the occasion, one of the attendees suggested that a
picture be taken of the historic occasion. A sequence of pictures, that
included Gono, Charambra, Nhepera and others were taken, but one, purportedly
showing a demure Grace and dejected Mugabe, has been held up as evidence of
Mugabe’s defeat. In many of the other pictures the attendees are smiling.
Zanu-PF officials have confirmed that part of the
negotiated settlement is that Mugabe and his family will not face legal action
and will be allowed to retain all their assets. A number of government
ministers and senior officials are already being pursued in countries where
they have fled, including Mozambique and Botswana.
At least 68 operatives of the much-feared Central
Intelligence Organisation have been rounded up, with others having gone to
ground as the military maintains roadblocks throughout the country, searching
for those implicated in the decades of looting in Zimbabwe.
Since his resignation, Mugabe has been relegated to a
hermit and, on the few occasions he has left his home, was subjected to
humiliating security checks by the military who fear he may try to aid his wife
or senior government officials on the army’s wanted list.
“If it was not for Grace Mugabe, Robert Mugabe would be in
power today. It is that simple. Everyone in Zanu-PF has respect for our
statesman; we were willing to allow him to finish his term as first secretary
and leader of the party. But to allow his wife to insult senior members of the
party, insult Cabinet members …” said a top Zanu-PF insider.
A day after Mugabe’s resignation, life remained unchanged
at his rural home in Zvimba but a cloud of fear hung over the villagers, with
some saying they were unaware of the dramatic political developments.
For 78-year-old Felix Gatsi, who last had a job soon after
independence in 1984, Mugabe’s ouster marked the dawn of a new era.
“I would watch his motorcade drive to his rural home every
other Sunday morning. It had been close to a month since he last came here,”
said Gatsi.
“I have five children who are all unemployed and now depend
on subsistence farming. Mugabe would force us to attend his rallies but he
never fulfilled his election promises. For Mnangagwa, it is my desire that he
won’t be another Mugabe who has caused so much suffering to the people.” Mail
and Guardian
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