Process to impeach President Mugabe begins

21 Novembre 2017

Harare, Zimbabwe, November 21 (Infosplusgabon) -  The impeach President Robert Mugabe began on Tuesday with the Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda reading the rules and regulations of the process, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has reported.

The broadcast said Members of Parliament and Senate across the political divide were in the House when the motion was moved and seconded.

The deliberations are expected to run until Wednesday, ZBC said, adding that a 9-member committee is expected to be put in place to look at the grounds of impeachment.

The ruling ZANU-PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke said President Mugabe was expected to receive a letter of the outcome by Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.

The opposition MDC is expected to back the impeachment motion. Its leader Morgan Tsvangirai is also calling for a free and fair election.

A meeting of the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) is taking place in Angola to discuss the Zimbabwe situation.

The impeachment process is going ahead after President Mugabe on Sunday refused to step down despite the ruling ZANU-PF sacking him earlier as its leader.

In a nationwide broadcast, he said he would preside over the party's congress due to be held from 12-17 December.

There was high expectation that the 93-year-old leader would announce his resignation, given extreme pressure from the military, party and general public to end his 37-year rule.

But he did not mention resigning from the position.

Former Zimbabwe Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday stepped into the political crisis by asking President Mugabe to resign as the ruling ZANU-PF party begins the process to impeach him while the military urges patience as they work to take the country of the fast moving situation.

In a statement quoted by the local media, Mnangagua, whose dismissal from his post and the party two weeks ago apparently moved the military to take over the country, said President Mugabe was on record saying that he would leave office once people said they no longer wanted. Now that they have spoken, he must accept the will of the people and resign.

“The people of Zimbabwe have spoken with one voice and it is my appeal to President Mugabe that he should take heed of this clarion call by the people of Zimbabwe to resign so that the country can move forward and preserve his legacy," the Zimbabawe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) quoted him as saying.

“President Mugabe in his televised State of the Nation Address admitted to a number of a latent disregard to the interest of the people and dereliction of duty, surely after making such an admission common sense dictates that it should have been followed by an apology and immediate resignation to save the legacy of our struggle,” said Mnangagwa who fled the country after his dismissal.

The Zimbabwean situation follows a bitter power struggle within the ruling ZANU-PF which culminated in the dismissal last week of vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa from his post and the party, putting President Mugabe's wife, Grace, in pole position to assume the post and therefore succeed the 93-year-old president. There has been no word of the whereabouts of the First Lady.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AAE/ GABON 2017

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