Zimbabweans celebrate outside the
parliament building immediately
after hearing the news that
President Robert Mugabe had
resigned, in downtown Harare,
Zimbabwe Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017.
Mugabe resigned as president with
immediate effect Tuesday after 37
years in power, shortly after
parliament began impeachment
proceedings against him. (AP
Photo/Ben Curtis)
Robert
Mugabe
resigns
as
Zimbabwe’s
president
after 37
years By
CHRISTOPHER
TORCHIA
and
FARAI
MUTSAKA
AP News
HARARE,
Zimbabwe
(AP) —
Zimbabwe’s
President
Robert
Mugabe,
who once
vowed to
rule for
life,
resigned
on
Tuesday,
succumbing
to a
week of
overwhelming
pressure
from the
military
that put
him
under
house
arrest,
lawmakers
from the
ruling
party
and
opposition
who
started
impeachment
proceedings
and a
population
that
surged
into the
streets
to say
37 years
in power
was
enough.
The
capital,
Harare,
erupted
in
jubilation
after
news
spread
that the
93-year-old
leader’s
resignation
letter
had been
read out
by the
speaker
of
parliament,
whose
members
had
gathered
to
impeach
Mugabe
after he
ignored
escalating
calls to
quit
since a
military
takeover.
Well
into the
night,
cars
honked
and
people
danced
and sang
in a
spectacle
of free
expression
that
would
have
been
impossible
during
his
years in
power,
whose
early
promise
after
the end
of white
minority
rule in
1980 was
overtaken
by
economic
collapse,
government
dysfunction
and
human
rights
violations.
“Welcome
to the
new
Zimbabwe!”
people
chanted
outside
the
conference
center
where
the
lawmakers
had met.
“This is
the best
day of
my
life,”
one man
declared
as
euphoric
citizens
celebrated
on top
of cars,
clustered
around a
tank and
shook
hands
with
soldiers
who were
hailed
as
saviors
for
their
role in
dislodging
Mugabe,
a
once-formidable
politician
who
crushed
dissent
or
sidelined
opponents
but, in
the end,
was a
lonely
figure
abandoned
by
virtually
all his
allies.
“Change
was
overdue.
...
Maybe
this
change
will
bring
jobs,”
said
23-year-old
Thomas
Manase,
an
unemployed
university
graduate.
It
was a
call
echoed
by many,
and
which
pointed
to the
challenges
ahead
for
Zimbabwe,
which
used to
be a
regional
breadbasket
but has
since
suffered
hyperinflation,
cash
shortages,
chronic
mismanagement
and
massive
joblessness.
And,
while
Zimbabweans
seemed
almost
universally
united
in their
wish to
see an
end to
the
Mugabe
era, the
hard
work of
building
institutions
and
preparing
for what
they
hope are
free and
fair
elections
scheduled
for next
year has
yet to
begin.
Mugabe,
who was
the
world’s
oldest
head of
state,
said in
his
resignation
letter
that
legal
procedures
should
be
followed
to
install
a new
president
“no
later
than
tomorrow.”
“My
decision
to
resign
is
voluntary
on my
part and
arises
from my
concern
for the
welfare
of the
people
of
Zimbabwe
and my
desire
for a
smooth,
non-violent
transfer
of
power,”
Mugabe
said in
the
message
read out
by
parliamentary
speaker
Jacob
Mudenda.
Recently
ousted
Vice
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
was to
take
over as
the
country’s
leader
within
48 hours
so that
he can
move
“with
speed to
work for
the
country,”
said a
ruling
party
official,
Lovemore
Matuke.
Mnangagwa,
who fled
the
country
after
his Nov.
6
firing,
“is not
far from
here,”
Matuke
added.
Mugabe’s
resignation
ended
impeachment
proceedings
brought
by the
ruling
ZANU-PF
party
after
its
Central
Committee
voted to
oust him
as party
leader
and
replace
him with
Mnangagwa,
a former
justice
and
defense
minister
who
served
for
decades
as
Mugabe’s
enforcer,
a role
that
earned
him the
moniker,
“Crocodile.”
Many
opposition
supporters
detest
Mnangagwa
and
believe
he was
instrumental
in the
army
killings
of
thousands
of
people
when
Mugabe
moved
against
a
political
rival in
the
1980s.
So
far,
Mnangagwa
has used
inclusive
language,
saying
in a
statement
before
Mugabe’s
resignation
that all
Zimbabweans
should
work
together
to
advance
their
nation.
“Never
should
the
nation
be held
at
ransom
by one
person
ever
again,
whose
desire
is to
die in
office
at
whatever
cost to
the
nation,”
Mnangagwa
said.
Zimbabwe’s
military
commander,
Gen.
Constantino
Chiwenga,
warned
people
not to
target
old
adversaries
following
Mugabe’s
resignation.
“Acts of
vengeful
retribution
or
trying
to
settle
scores
will be
dealt
with
severely,”
he said.
U.N.
Secretary-General
Antonio
Guterres
urged
Zimbabweans
to
maintain
calm.
The U.S.
Embassy
in
Zimbabwe
said
Mugabe’s
resignation
“marks
an
historic
moment”
and that
“the
path
forward”
should
lead to
free and
fair
elections.
British
Foreign
Secretary
Boris
Johnson
said
Mugabe
was “a
despot
who
impoverished
his
country”
and his
exit is
a
“moment
of joy”
for
Zimbabwe.
The
end for
Mugabe
came
when his
wife,
Grace
Mugabe,
positioned
herself
to
succeed
her
husband,
leading
a party
faction
that
engineered
Mnangagwa’s
ouster.
The
prospect
of a
dynastic
succession
alarmed
the
military,
which
confined
Mugabe
to his
home
last
week and
targeted
what it
called
“criminals”
around
him who
allegedly
were
looting
state
resources
— a
reference
to
associates
of the
first
lady.
In
his
early
days as
leader,
after a
long war
between
black
guerrillas
and the
white
rulers
of
Rhodesia,
as
Zimbabwe
was
known
before
independence,
Mugabe
stressed
education
and
built
new
schools.
Tourism
and
mining
flourished.
But in
2000,
violent
seizures
of
thousands
of
white-owned
farms
began,
causing
agricultural
production
to
plunge.
A land
reform
program
was
supposed
to take
much of
the
country’s
most
fertile
land and
redistribute
it to
poor
blacks,
but
Mugabe
instead
gave
prime
farms to
ZANU-PF
leaders
and
loyalists,
relatives
and
cronies.
As
the
years
went by,
Mugabe
was
widely
accused
of
hanging
onto
power
through
violence
and vote
fraud,
notably
in a
2008
election
that led
to a
troubled
coalition
government
after
regional
mediators
intervened.
Still,
he cast
himself
as a
voice of
pride
and
defiance
in
modern
Africa,
a
message
that
resonated
in many
countries
that had
experienced
Western
colonialism
or
intervention.
Mugabe
once
said he
wanted
to rule
for
life,
expressing
a desire
to live
until he
is 100
years
old. He
also
said he
was
ready to
retire
if asked
to do so
by his
supporters.
A
year
ago, he
said:
“If I am
to
retire,
let me
retire
properly.”