Ousted President Robert Mugabe is
insisting he remains Zimbabwe’s only legitimate ruler, an intelligence source
said, on Thursday.
The source said Mugabe is
resisting mediation by a Catholic priest to allow the 93-year-old former
guerrilla a graceful exit after a military coup.
The priest, Fidelis Mukonori, is
acting as a middle-man between Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on
Wednesday in a targeted operation against “criminals” in his entourage, a
senior political source told Reuters.
The source could not provide
details of the talks, which appear to be aimed at a smooth and bloodless
transition after the departure of Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since
independence in 1980.
Mugabe, still seen by many
Africans as a liberation hero, is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous
handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power
destroyed one of Africa’s most promising states.
Zimbabwean intelligence reports
seen by Reuters suggest that former security chief Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was
ousted as vice-president this month, has been mapping out a post-Mugabe vision
with the military and opposition for more than a year.
Fuelling speculation that that
plan might be rolling into action, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has
been receiving cancer treatment in Britain and South Africa, returned to Harare
late on Wednesday, his spokesman said.
South Africa said Mugabe had told
President Jacob Zuma by telephone on Wednesday that he was confined to his home
but was otherwise fine and the military said it was keeping him and his family,
including wife Grace, safe.
In spite of the lingering
admiration for Mugabe, there is little public affection for 52-year-old Grace,
a former government typist who started having an affair with Mugabe in the
early 1990s as his first wife, Sally, was dying of cancer.
Dubbed “DisGrace” or “Gucci
Grace” on account of her reputed love of shopping, she enjoyed a meteoric rise
through the ranks of Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF in the last two years, culminating
in Mnangagwa’s removal a week ago, a move seen as clearing the way for her to
succeed her husband.
In contrast to the high political
drama unfolding behind closed doors, the streets of the capital remained calm,
with people going about their daily business, albeit under the watch of
soldiers on armored vehicles at strategic locations.
Whatever the final outcome, the
events could signal a once-in-a-generation change for the former British
colony, a regional breadbasket reduced to destitution by economic policies
Mugabe’s critics have long blamed on him.
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