Mugabe could be sacked ‘if he becomes stubborn’

Leaders of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party are meeting on Friday to draft a resolution to sack President Robert Mugabe.

A senior party source was quoted as saying the leaders will lay the ground for his impeachment on Tuesday if Mugabe refused to stand down.

“There is no going back,” the source told Reuters. “If he becomes stubborn, we will arrange for him to be fired on Sunday. When that is done, it’s impeachment on Tuesday.”

Zimbabwe’s military said it was engaging Mugabe in talks on the way forward for the country and that it would advise the nation on the outcome as soon as possible.

The military added in a statement broadcast on Zimbabwean television that it had made “significant progress” in its operation targeting “criminals” around Mugabe.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday urged Mugabe to resign in the interest of the country.

Mugabe had maintained that he is Zimbabwe’s only legitimate ruler and failed to embrace mediation by a Catholic priest to allow him have a graceful exit.

“In the interest of the people, Robert Mugabe must resign and step down immediately,” said Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Earlier, the political opposition in Zimbabwe called for the intermediate installation of an interim government, a day after a surprise military takeover.

“At the moment the transitional government is the best way to go,” said Douglas Mwonzora, secretary-general of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party.

“We back the military move but the country should quickly go back a constitutional government.”

Officials from the Southern African Development Community were also meeting in Botswana’s capital Gaborone on Thursday to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe.

“What is needed is an inclusive government to run the affairs of Zimbabwe until a time it is right to have elections,” said Didymus Mutasa, a longtime minister in Mugabe’s government, who was fired in 2014 for backing Joice Mujuru as the president’s successor.