Zanu-PF has appointed ex-vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had been fired by Mr Mugabe two weeks ago.

The sacking of Mr Mnangagwa had prompted an extraordinary chain of events as the military intervened to block Mr Mugabe, 93, from installing his wife Grace in his place.

Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans attended street protests on Saturday to demonstrate against the Mugabes.

Mr Mugabe is set to meet military leaders on Sunday and a motorcade has been seen leaving his private residence.

The head of the influential War Veterans Association, Chris Mutsvangwa, told Reuters news agency that the party was also starting the process of removing Mr Mugabe as the president of the country.

Reuters also reports that First Lady Grace Mugabe has been expelled from the party altogether.

BBC correspondent Andrew Harding, at the meeting, tweeted a video of people dancing after the decision to remove Mr Mugabe was taken.

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Source: BBC

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The 93-year-old was put under house arrest during a military takeover on Wednesday, amid a power struggle over who would succeed him.

The military said on Friday it was “engaging” with Mr Mugabe.

It also said progress had been made in targeting “criminals” around the president, but did not elaborate.

Several senior officials are said to have been detained since Wednesday.

In a televised statement, the military said it would advise the nation on the outcome of talks with Mr Mugabe “as soon as possible”.

President Mugabe held talks on Thursday with regional envoys and the army chief. Sources say he has so far refused to agree to move aside.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said earlier it was “in the interests of the people” that Mr Mugabe “resign… immediately”.

The army moved in after Mr Mugabe last week sacked Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, signalling that he favoured his wife Grace Mugabe to take over his Zanu-PF party and thus the presidency.

The BBC’s Andrew Harding, in Zimbabwe, says that if President Mugabe can be persuaded to step down officially it could help legitimise the military’s dramatic intervention.

On the streets, it is hard to find anyone who wants Mr Mugabe to stay on, our correspondent adds, but negotiating the manner of his departure and some sort of transitional agreement to follow could take some time.

It is very unclear.

Photos in the Zimbabwe Herald earlier showed Mr Mugabe meeting army chief Gen Constantino Chiwenga and the two envoys from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) at State House in Harare.

Alongside them was Father Fidelis Mukonori, a Roman Catholic priest known to Mr Mugabe for years, who has been brought in to mediate.

Sources close to the talks say Mr Mugabe – who has been in control of Zimbabwe since it threw off white minority rule in 1980 – is refusing to stand down voluntarily before next year’s planned elections.

“I think he is trying to buy time,” one source close to the army leadership told the AFP news agency.

Some observers suggest that Mr Mugabe may be trying to seek guarantees of safety for himself and his family before stepping aside.

Zanu-PF officials had earlier suggested Mr Mugabe could remain nominally in power until the party congress in December, when Mr Mnangagwa would be formally installed as party and national leader.

How did the military takeover come about?

In the early hours of Wednesday, Zimbabwe’s military took over the headquarters of national broadcaster ZBC and issued a statement saying they were targeting “criminals” around President Mugabe.

Troops and armoured vehicles encircled parliament and other key buildings throughout the day.

On Monday, Gen Chiwenga had warned the army would intervene to end what he called the “purging” of Zanu-PF members “with a liberation background”, referring to the country’s struggle for independence.

Mr Mnangagwa is one such veteran of the 1970s war which led to independence.

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Source: BBC

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However, it said this was not “a military takeover of government” and President Robert Mugabe was safe.

Heavy gunfire and artillery were heard in northern suburbs of the capital, Harare, early on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe’s envoy to South Africa, Isaac Moyo, earlier dismissed talk of a coup, saying the government was “intact”.

The statement read out by Maj Gen Sibusiso Moyo came hours after soldiers overran the headquarters of ZBC. He said: “We wish to assure the nation that his excellency the president… and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed.”

The statement added: “We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes… that are causing social and economic suffering in the country. As soon as we have accomplished our mission, we expect that the situation will return to normalcy.”

The statement did not name those targeted but a government source quoted by Reuters said Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo was among those detained.

It is not clear who is leading the military action.

Other key points of the statement included:

• Citizens should remain calm and limit unnecessary movement
• The military assures the Zimbabwean judiciary that its independence is guaranteed
• Security services should “co-operate for the good of our country” and any provocation would “be met with an appropriate response”
• All leave for the defence forces is cancelled and personnel should return to barracks immediately

The UK Foreign Office advised Britons “currently in Harare to remain safely at home or in their accommodation until the situation becomes clearer”.

The US embassy in Harare tweeted that it would be closed on Wednesday “due to ongoing uncertainty”.

It also advised US citizens in Zimbabwe to “shelter in place” until further notice.

Alex Magaisa, former adviser to Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, told the BBC he believes the military’s claim that they haven’t carried out a coup is untrue.

“They have decided not to call it a coup because they know that a coup does not sell, it will be condemned,” he said.

“But as far as authority is concerned it seems very clear that President Mugabe is now just a president in name and authority is now residing in the military.”

The latest events came hours after Zimbabwe’s ruling party accused the country’s army chief of “treasonable conduct” after he warned of possible military intervention.

General Constantino Chiwenga had challenged 93-year-old President Mugabe after he sacked the vice-president.

Gen Chiwenga said the army was prepared to act to end purges within Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.

Tensions were raised further on Tuesday when armoured vehicles were seen taking up positions on roads outside Harare, although their purpose was unclear.

Some staff at ZBC were manhandled when soldiers took over their offices in Harare late on Tuesday evening, sources told Reuters.

Workers were told that they “should not worry”, a source added, and that soldiers were only there to protect the site.

The BBC’s Shingai Nyoka, in Harare, said the sounds of heavy gunfire and artillery had been heard in northern suburbs where a number of government officials, including the president, live.

Gunfire was heard near Mr Mugabe’s residence in the suburb of Borrowdale early on Wednesday, a witness told AFP news agency.

Mr Mugabe sacked Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week, amid a row over succession.

Mr Mnangagwa had previously been seen as an heir to the president, but First Lady Grace Mugabe is now the clear front-runner.

The rivalry between Mrs Mugabe and Mr Mnangagwa has split Zanu-PF.

Last month, Mrs Mugabe warned of a possible coup plot, saying allies of Mr Mnangagwa were threatening the lives of those who didn’t support him.

The Zanu-PF party said Gen Chiwenga’s comments were “calculated to disturb national peace… [and] incite insurrection”.

The party said it would never succumb to military threats, and that it “reaffirms the primacy of politics over the gun”.

The leader of Zanu-PF’s youth wing, Kudzai Chipanga, said the general did not have the full support of the entire military.

“It is our country and future at stake and we will not let any individual military man interfere with the leader of the party and legitimately voted president of this country,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

The youth wing is a strong supporter of Grace Mugabe.

Gen Chiwenga’s warning of possible military intervention came on Monday at a news conference at army headquarters where he was surrounded by senior army officers.

He said the “purging” within Zanu-PF was “clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background”, referring to the country’s struggle for freedom from white minority rule.

“We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,” he said.

Mr Mnangagwa is one such veteran of the 1970s war which ended white minority rule.

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Source: BBC

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Western Commonage Magistrates Court in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, heard how the holy man was grabbed and forced onto a bed and then stripped.

The three women Sandra Ncube, 21, Riamuhetsi Mlauzi, 23, and Mongiwe Mpofu, 25, were in the dock charged with aggravated indecent assault.

Prosecutor Mr Petros Shoko said the complainant, who is not being named to spare his blushes, was a pastor at a church in Cowdray Park.

He said the male victim had gone to the home of the three women as he was owed money and he was invited inside the house to collect it.

But once inside he alleged he was grabbed by one woman around the waist and his trousers were pulled down by another who then fondled him.

Mr Shoko said: ‘On July 14 at 7pm the complainant went to the accused persons residence to collect money which Mlauzi owed.

‘They forced him to lie on the bed and undressed him. Ncube sat on his chest and he tried to push her away.

‘However Mlauzi held his legs together and sat on his top pressing him against the bed

‘Mpofu was in another room and brought condoms and placed them on the complainants manhood and helped to hold him down.

‘Ncube had sexual intercourse with the complainant once without his consent’ Mr Shoko said.

The three denied raping the pastor but admitted indecent assault.

Ncube said: ‘We were just playing around Your Worship. I did not think that he would take it seriously’.

Mpofu denied taking part but admitted bringing the condoms saying: ‘We keep them around the house and I just brought them’.

Mlauzi said she wanted to ‘fix’ the pastor who she claimed had a habit of walking in on the women when they were bathing.

She said: ‘He always walks in on me bathing and claims to be unmoved as a man of God. I just wanted to see if he was going to be aroused or not.

‘I did not plan to execute the whole rape thing Your Worship’.

Magistrate Lungile Ncube was told by Mlauzi that she just wanted to prove to the pastor that he had ‘feelings like everybody else’.

She said: ‘I wanted him to see that he was not special and was not immune to sexual arousal.

‘When I touched him he immediately got aroused and that is all we wanted to see’ she said.

The complainant was taken to Mpilo Central Hospital for a medical examination and the report will be prepared for the magistrates.

All three were remanded in custody until August 7 for a full trial.

Earlier this month a 39-year-old teacher was hospitalised in Zimbabwe after claiming a gang of three women kidnapped, drugged and raped him for two days.

The man from Makoni in Chitungwiza was left with severely bruised genitals and doctors at Waza Hospital found other signs of sexual abuse after he was dumped by the roadside.

Police are still trying to find the three women who are allegedly part of a ‘sperm bandit’ gang preying on hitchhikers and travellers and steal and sell their semen for ‘good luck’.

There is no suggestion the two alleged crimes are related.

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Source: Daily Mail

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