Zimbabwe: The King Is Dead

ZIMBABWE

The King Is Dead…

For 37 years, one man ruled supreme. And for the struggling youth of Zimbabwe like Ethel Murehwa, he’s the only leader she’s ever known.

The unthinkable has now happened, she told USA Today. He’s gone. And she feels hope.

Over the weekend, along with shock and awe in this southern African country, there was a feeling that now anything is possible.

The longest ruling dictator in the world, Robert Mugabe, 93, was kicked out of his ruling ZANU-PF party. So was his unpopular wife Grace, who is also known as “First Shopper” or “Gucci Grace” for her lavish shopping sprees abroad. She was set to take over from her husband when the country held elections next year.

Instead, Mugabe now has a stark choice: resign or be impeached.

The events that led to this day started weeks ago after Mugabe decided to fire his vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. That move was not exceptional in itself: Zimbabwe’s president had canned subordinates before.

This time, however, it was one step too far, Forbes explained.

The tanks rolled into the capital of Harare. Demonstrators chanting “Mugabe must go” filled the streets, reported ABC. Tens of thousands demonstrated this weekend.

The central committee of the party said it would impeach Mugabe by Tuesday via the Parliament if he didn’t resign – and during a televised address Sunday, he did not. The central committee also appointed Mnangagwa as party leader.

So what’s next?

The military needs to be careful, the Washington Post warned. They must hew to the pretense that they haven’t staged a coup, or else Zimbabwe’s neighbors could feel obliged to intervene on Mugabe’s behalf.

Mnangagwa is no boy scout, either. Nicknamed “the Crocodile,” he was a close compatriot of Mugabe who had little compunctions about implementing his autocrat boss’s agenda.

“His ruthlessness is legion,” South African journalist Peter Fabricius told the New York Times.

He’s alleged to have massacred at least 20,000 civilians in the 1980s in Matabeleland, where opposition to Mugabe was rife, CNN reported.

The Zimbabwean economy is a mess, too. Unemployment stands at 95 percent, Bloomberg wrote. Inflation is skyrocketing. Prices have been falling for the commodities that provide crucial foreign reserves to the government’s coffers.

Still, many Zimbabweans are ecstatic. After a transition period, their country has a chance at normality.

“Mugabe was president since I was born,” Kudakwashe Gore, a mechanic in Harare, told USA Today. “He was spoiling his legacy by failing to pass on the baton.”

The country can build on that confidence and other assets, the Guardian argued. Zimbabwe has a well-educated populace, some of the best tourism in Africa as well as gold and other natural resources, for example.

It is now up to Mnangagwa to seize the opportunity he has been given.

“Everything had become gloomy —there were no jobs, and everyone was roaming the streets,” said Ethel Murehwa, 28, of the past few years. “I anticipate that Mugabe’s departure will lead to economic transformation and creation of jobs…and I hope to get a job soon.”