Zimbabwe: Security Ministers encourage Mugabe to quit
Fri, 15 Jun 2007 03:17:00
Theresa Nkala
ZANU PF bigwigs, among them, information secretary Nathan Shamuyarira and security minister Didymus Mutasa, met with the embattled President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday night, where they, in an unprecedented development, told him to annoint a successor immediately and quit ahead of crucial presidential and parliamentary elections next year.
"Basically, they told him his time was up," said a source who attended the meeting.
The meeting, also attended by defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi, followed hard on the heels of a foiled coup in which Retired-General Solomon Mujuru is fingered as the mastermind of the rebellion.
Mujuru, the husband of Vice President Joice Mujuru, has been angered by the shift of fortunes as Mugabe has, of late, been in favour of leaving the baton to his wife's arch-rival in the succession crux, rural housing and social amenities minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The rebels had almost succeeded in toppling Mugabe, according to highly-placed sources in the dreaded spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
"They made one fatal error. One of those enlisted for his services was an undercover CIO operative in the army. He relayed every thing to his bosses in the spy agency who nipped the coup in the bud," said a very senior CIO officer privy to the goings-on in the establishment.
He added, "We have the names of all involved. We have rounded them up, save for a few who are on the run."
The suspected coup plotters who have been thoroughly tortured, have twice appeared in camera in court but have denied planning to topple Mugabe.
Reminiscent of the court appearance of MDC and civic leaders who were arrested as they tried to attend a crushed prayer meeting in Highfield early this year, one of the coup plotters was taken into the courtroom on Monday in a wheelchair. It is believed he could not walk as a result of the beatings during interrogations.
The accused are maintaining they wanted to form a political party and contest next year's polls. However, Mugabe has been disturbed by the seniority of the defence officers involved in the plot.
David Matapo, the said leader of the rebellion, is lieutenant colonel in the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA). Elson Moyo and Major General Engelbert Rugeje, put under house arrest, are the deputy commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) and a senior officer at the army headquarters in Harare, respectively.
In the Tuesday night meeting, a visibly shaken Mugabe, reportedly sat attentively as his henchmen did most of the talking. "It was not the same Mugabe who usually wants to have the final word," said the source who also attended the meeting.
More shocking to the ageing despot, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, were revelations of massive weapons that had gone missing from army barracks but were found in the hands of the coup plotters.
Conspicuously absent from the meeting was Joice Mujuru, whose husband is said to be seething with anger that his plans failed. He is leading a group of ZANU PF politicians who feel something must be rescued from Zimbabwe "for the sake of our children".
They want Mugabe to go and turn a new leaf in Zimbabwe where opposition parties are embraced and foreign donors courted.
Analysts say recent developments explain why Mugabe was in a conciliatory mood with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) at the launch of the Agricultural Mechanisation Support Programme on Monday.
The scheme, in which the Zimbabwean strongman is said to have literally knocked on MDC officials' doors with offers of tractors and farming machinery, was launched by a jovial Mugabe who called opposition members "Zimbabweans", a sharp contrast to a vitriolic Mugabe, who has seized every opportunity to pour scorn on dissenting voices.
With pressure coming from all quarters, including SA President Thabo Mbeki, who many have accused of dragging his feet on the Zimbabwean crisis, Mugabe could be preparing his exit from power.
Unconfirmed reports say, he used his recent trip to Malawi to look at a farm he has been offered by President Bingu wa Mutharika, whose wife, Ethel, was buried on Saturday last week. Mugabe went there for the burial of Ethel Mutharika, who died of cancer aged 63, two weeks ago.
Sources say, after the burial of Mama Mutharika, Mugabe's motorcade proceeded to Limbe where, for more than an hour, the Zimbabwean leader, his wife Grace, and senior government officials toured the farm. He has also been making sojourns to friendly nations like Malaysia and China, where he is believed to be stashing his loot.
Observers say it will be very difficult for Mugabe to quit and live in Zimbabwe. They say, he fears to be tried for crimes he allegedly committed while in office, especially the Gukurahundi massacre.
The genocide, which saw more than 20 000 people, mainly Ndebele-speaking villagers, being butchered by the notorious Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, was condemned by the entire world and there have been repeated calls for Mugabe to be taken to the International Court of Justice, The Hague.
"He will never feel safe as a former president, living in Zimbabwe," quipped an observer.
There's a thread over on SA where posters are predicting the exact day he steps down/dies/flees the country.
