Mugabe Refuses to Resign After ZANU-PF Fires Him

[Joe Kihara Munugu]

Mugabe Defies ZANU-PF Firing
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, 93, has refused to step down from power after his ruling party ZANU-PF removed him from leadership earlier today.  In his awaited speech to the nation, Mugabe told Zimbabweans that he will preside over ZANU-PF party Congress next month. Many people across Zimbabwe and the world expected Mugabe to resign today after removal from the ruling party leadership.  At the live TV address Mugabe was flanked by generals. He said that the concerns raised by ZANU-PF were in the “spirit of honesty and out of deep and patriotic concern for the stability of our nation and welfare of our people”. He demanded that handing over power to be done through proper procedures and in according with the party's constitution, rules and good traditions. He said “the government remains committed to improving the social and material conditions of the people”.

When the ruling Zanu-PF sacked Mugabe as party leader, they gave him less than 24 hours to resign as president or be impeached.  Former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa was named Zanu-PF's new leader and candidate for the 2018 presidential elections. At the same party meeting, Mugabe's 52-year-old wife, Grace, was expelled from the party, alongside a number of other senior officials.
Chris Mutsvangwa, a Zimbabwe war veterans leader, who has been leading a campaign to oust Mugabe, has stated that people will take to the streets of Harare on Wednesday if Mugabe does not leave office by Tuesday.

The current Zimbabwe crisis was triggered after Mugabe fired his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, two weeks ago. The army saw Mnangagwa's firing as an attempt for Mugabe to move his wife, Grace, into the position of his successor.