Zimbabwe Update: ZANU-PF Announces Mugabe’s Removal, Names Exiled VP as Successor
Zimbabwe’s ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), on Wednesday, announced that President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace, had been detained and that the president had been replaced with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the erstwhile Vice President who was recently sacked and exiled by Mugabe.
According to the ZANU-PF Twitter handle, “Zimbabwe has not had a coup. There has been a decision to intervene because our constitution had been undermined, in the interim Comrade E Mnangagwa will be president of ZANU-PF as per the constitution of our revolutionary organisation.”
The ruling party also disclosed that military takeover had the backing of politicians. In a series of tweets, the ruling party ZANU-PF stated:
“Last night the first family was detained and are safe, both for the constitution and the sanity of the nation this was necessary. Neither Zimbabwe nor ZANU are owned by Mugabe and his wife. Today begins a fresh new era and comrade Mnangagwa will help us achieve a better Zimbabwe.
“There was no coup, only a bloodless transition which saw corrupt and crooked persons being arrested and an elderly man who had been taken advantage of by his wife being detained. The few bangs that were heard were from crooks who were resisting arrest, but they are now detained.
“ZANU PF has a way of solving our own problems, the situation is stable and Zimbabwe is open for business. There was no coup, but a bloodless peaceful transition- the centre is strong and there is peace with honest leadership.”