On 10 November, I flew into a country whose citizens were doing the best they could to survive in the economically and emotionally bankrupt nation that Zimbabwe had become during the last half of President Robert Mugabe’s 37 years of governing. It was no secret that the First Lady, the so-called Doctor Amai Grace Mugabe, harboured ambitions to succeed her husband as president. But one man stood in the way of her ambitions – Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, one of her husband’s two vice presidents. He was tipped by many to be best placed to succeed Mugabe. He became Grace’s Banquo and she considered him to be a step on which she had to o’erleap, or else fall down.
In October, she used her infamous interface rallies as the platform to perform relentless attacks on her rival. She accused him of plotting to overthrow the president, among other crimes. These accusations would eventually lead to Mnangagwa’s dismissal on 6 November. Simon Khaya Moyo, the Minister for Information, Media and Broadcasting Services made the first of what was to be a series of press statements by different parties to inform, appease, threaten or plead with the citizens to heed one thing or the other. Mnangagwa had been relieved of his duties as Vice President, said SK Moyo. It was a humiliating end for the man who had been Mugabe’s most trusted lieutenant dating back to the days of the liberation struggle.
For the ordinary citizen, life continued as the hustle it has always been although there were whispered waves of shock at Doctor Amai’s audacity to challenge the army generals to shoot her for calling a spade a spade. ‘I say it as it is,’ she taunted. ‘Ndonzi Mafirakureva.’ While she would not die for speaking up, those may be the portentous words that began a downfall for her and her husband. Believing that SADC and the AU would not allow the unconstitutional removal of a democratically elected leader by the military, she continued to taunt those she perceived to be her husband’s enemies, in particular, General Constantino Chiwenga. It was Doctor Amai as normal. Nothing therefore, could have prepared us for the days of uncertainty, tension, anxiety and/or excitement that was to grip the nation for a week as the military moved to stop the locomotive that was Grace Mugabe before it went over the cliff with the whole nation aboard.
On 13 November, seven days after Mnangagwa was fired, General Chiwenga held a press conference in the capital. I was in Bulawayo when I listened to the statement which was to mark the beginning of the end of President Robert Mugabe’s ruinous rule. At the press conference, General Chiwenga warned about the treacherous shenanigans in the governing party, and that the military would not hesitate to step in to protect our revolution.
SK Moyo was soon back with another press statement. The general’s statement bordered on treason, he said. Not to be outdone, as always used to happen with Mugabe’s praise singers and bootlickers, Kudzai Chipanga, the ZANU-PF Secretary for Youth Affairs and graduate of the notorious Border Gezi paramilitary training school also jumped into the fray. He warned the men in charge of the nation’s arsenal that he and his ‘youthies’ would come out in their millions to support and protect their president even if it meant giving up their lives for him.
On 15 November, I was back in the capital city, Harare, where all the action was.
My neighbourhood was awash with rumours of not less than a dozen armoured tanks that had thundered down Chinhoyi road. Something was definitely afoot. We took to social media to share this development. Was it Mugabe annihilating the generals or was it the generals staging a coup? No one seemed to have any answers. Dr Sibusiso Moyo, a soldier, appeared on television and made an announcement that shed some light on the situation. ‘This is not a military takeover,’ he said, even though it had the hallmarks of one, sans bloodshed and rioting. ‘The president and his wife are safe, we are only targeting the criminals around him.’ Zimbabwean wits dubbed it ‘a coup that’s not a coup.’
The following day, Chipanga was back on television, this time with an apology to the generals. Slowly, we began to piece together bits of what was happening. We tuned in to SABC, BBC, Al Jazeera and other foreign stations for news, since our own ZTV was quiet on the situation. Social media was awash with speculations by various political analysts from those who quoted what they claimed to be reliable sources to those who gave their opinions as if they were facts.
It was rumoured that the Generals wanted the President to resign. It was important that he stepped down voluntarily and was not shoved, or else the world would not recognise whoever succeeded him. So we hear there were discussions in which there was much cajoling, a bit of coaxing and veiled threats.
The generals set out to outfox the master of grand plans himself. They executed what will probably go down in history as the most well planned removal of a leader by the military. They urged the citizens to go about their business as usual while they sorted a few issues. To prove that there was no turmoil in the country, the military escorted Mugabe to cap graduands at the University of Zimbabwe and guarded his home against mobs who were camped outside his mansion in the affluent suburb of Borrowdale.
None of the people I spoke to condemned the actions of the army, from the maids in the complex, the neighbours to complete strangers. For the first time, the citizens felt free to speak freely about their true feelings towards Mugabe and his wife. Yet these were the same people who had endorsed him as their presidential candidate in all provinces and cheered at his wife as she jeered at her rivals. Was this fickleness on the part of the electorate or the emergence of a fearless people, finally? I wondered. Perhaps the citizens felt that with the military no longer on Mugabe’s side, no one would harass them for speaking their minds. Overnight, the soldiers became the people’s darling. By marching in support of the army, the citizens were expressing their desire to see the end of Mugabe’s rule and scuttle the dynastic ambitions of his wife. The army was on their side and the police was temporarily disabled.
Mugabe had long since lost that of the war veterans and the youths whom Chipanga had said would go out into the streets to protest in their millions were also calling for his resignation. Zimbabweans of all races, ages and from different political groups poured into the streets in their thousands on 18 November to support his removal from power. I was not among them because that was the day I arrived back in United Kingdom. Mugabe was finally convinced that he was no longer wanted. The following day, Sunday, he agreed to resign during a live address the nation or so the rumours went.
The attention of the whole world was on Zimbabwe as the beleaguered president entered the press room at the State House, flanked by the generals. I sat glued to the TV watching the goings on BBC. It was a long speech, typical of the famed Bob speeches that were always delivered with eloquence, and were rich in rhetoric but bankrupt on bread and butter issues. In his speech I had my ear tuned to catch the one word I wanted to hear: Resign. Instead I saw the fumbling and shuffling of papers and heard bits like ‘it is a long speech, ndajamba, the oncoming special congress over which I’ll preside.’ I was impatient. Then much to my chagrin, the president said, ‘Iwe neni tine basa. Asante sana. Good night.’ As Zimbabweans, he told us, we had work. Then he thanked us and was done. The word ‘resign’ had not been uttered. I felt cheated. I was in shock, along with most Zimbabweans.
Had the generals been outfoxed, we wondered? Then came speculation after speculation on the situation, and views and discussions on social media about what now appeared to be an impassé. We may have lost our place as the breadbasket of Africa, but we somehow managed to cling on to the accolade of being one of the most literate nations in Africa and beyond. By Monday the 20th, the layman was learning more about the constitution, the impeachment, the new dispensation and other legal jargon that he would normally not bother with. The government ministers who had gone down on their knees before Mugabe and done their best to outshine each other in comparing him to Jesus were said to be willing to cast a vote of no confidence in him. The president had no one on his side, except perhaps his nephew, Patrick Zhuwao who had fled at the first sign of trouble and was now giving an interview on SABC and accusing the masses of being used from the safety of a neighbouring country.
By the time the airwaves carried the much anticipated news of Robert Mugabe’s resignation, my senses were too jaded to celebrate. I watched as Zimbabweans the world over rejoiced. On one thing they were united; they wanted Mugabe and his wife gone. The issue of who took over from him and in what manner or for what reason was another matter altogether. The generals had their agenda, which was to bring their preferred man back. The long-suffering citizens had theirs, to stop Mugabe’s wife from plunging us down a cliff. Each goal had been achieved by removing Mugabe.
Mnangagwa is now the president. His inaugural speech promised tolerance of rival political groups, revival of the economy and lots more. Whether or not he will deliver, only time will tell. For the sake of my people who have endured a lot of suffering under an uncaring and corrupt leadership, I so wish him to succeed. He has to, he just has to. He owes us that.
As for Mr Robert Gabriel Mugabe, asante sana and good night to your rule.
