Mugabe makes 1st public appearance amid pressure to exit
By FARAI MUTSAKA and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
AP
1510948602000

Photo: AP

 

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe made his first public appearance since the military put him under house arrest this week, even as the military announced progress on talks for his departure and arrested some of his allies, and branches of the ruling party began to pass no-confidence votes in the world’s oldest head of state.

Mugabe’s appearance at a graduation ceremony, to polite applause, came during an extraordinary series of negotiations with regional leaders over his departure after 37 years in power.

Zimbabwe’s military is taking pains to show respect for the 93-year-old by referring to him as the president and commander-in-chief.

But some in the ruling ZANU-PF party signaled they were getting impatient with Mugabe. Party branches passed no-confidence votes in the provinces of Mashonaland East and Manicaland. Others among the country’s 10 provinces, including Midlands, Masvingo and Harare, were said to follow suit.

Parliament is expected to resume sitting on Tuesday, and it is possible that ZANU-PF could use party procedures to impeach Mugabe with the support of opposition lawmakers.

Former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose firing last week led the military to step in, will return to Zimbabwe only after processes to remove Mugabe are complete, high-level supporters told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters about the matter.

A rally has been called for Saturday in Harare in support of the military’s move — another example of the growing freedoms Zimbabweans have been enjoying since Mugabe’s house arrest began.

As Mugabe tries to hang on, he has asked for “a few more days, a few more months,” the chairman of the influential war veterans’ association in Zimbabwe told reporters.

Chris Mutsvangwa, a Mnangagwa ally, said that “between now and tomorrow” they will warn Mugabe that the game is over. “If he doesn’t leave, we will settle the scores tomorrow.”

Mutsvangwa also said three Cabinet ministers have been arrested in the military’s efforts to pursue Mugabe allies. Education minister Jonathan Moyo, local government minister Saviour Kasukuwere and finance minister Ignatious Chombo “are in jail” along with many others.

The military said, “significant progress has been made in their operation to weed out criminals around President Mugabe,” saying they had committed “crimes that were causing social and economic suffering in Zimbabwe.”

The military is seeking associates of unpopular first lady Grace Mugabe, part of a clique dubbed the G40 because many were in their 40s and 50s. They are of a different generation from the one that fought for independence from white minority rule.

Grace Mugabe’s rapid political rise had alarmed many who feared she could replace Mnangagwa and then succeed her husband as president.

There was no sign of the first lady at Friday’s graduation ceremony, which allowed Mugabe to project the image of leadership. Some Zimbabweans worried that Mugabe, the only leader many have ever known, would somehow find a way to stay on.

Mugabe didn’t make a speech, merely announcing its opening to applause. Arriving in suit and tie, he put on an academic gown and cap and walked slowly in a red-carpet procession as a marching band played.

Army troops and armored vehicles continued to patrol the capital as Zimbabweans went about their daily business. Residents said they had feared at first when the military moved in but praised the current calm.

Headlines in some local newspapers declared the Mugabe era over. “Dawn of a new era,” one said. “Mugabe remembered for brutal 37-year rule,” said another.

The ongoing negotiations appear to be trying to get Mugabe to agree to hand over to a new government. But difficulties could include the timing. The ruling party is set to meet next month, and Mugabe’s term ends next year. An election date has not been set.

In another striking image of the fluidity of the political situation, state-run media on Thursday published photos of Mugabe jovially shaking hands with army commander Constantino Chiwenga, the general who ordered the president’s arrest.

Others pictured in the first round of talks at State House, the president’s official residence, include Defense Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Intelligence Minister Kembo Mohadi, South African Cabinet ministers who are acting as mediators and a local Catholic priest, Fidelis Mukonori, whom Mugabe has used as a mediator before. Grace Mugabe was not pictured.

The military wants the process of establishing the new government to appear to be constitutional to maintain a veneer of legality and the approval of the 16-nation regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community, and the African Union.