Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe ‘Accepts’ Terms of Resignation
Robert Mugabe, the embattled 93-year-old President of Zimbabwe, has reportedly drafted a resignation letter after negotiating the terms of his resignation as part of an immunity deal.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years, has brought Zimbabwe to the brink of chaos after a controversial and uninterrupted reign.
But today it all comes to an end as he is stripped of the leadership of the ruling party Zanu PF, who had demanded that he step down voluntarily by noon on Monday, or face impeachment.
Last Sunday Mugabe gave a long and rambling television speech that did not end in his resignation, as was expected. He has since then come under global criticism.
However, it is now being reported that he has drafted a letter that will “offer to resign in return for full immunity.”
Among the terms are full immunity for himself and his wife Grace, as well as being able to keep property and cash that he had amassed in his long reign as Zimbabwe’s president.
Many think that his speech on Sunday was only made to give the recent coup that caused this resignation a ‘veneer of constitutionality‘.
He had said what the military had done was constitutional in his speech, which will come in handy when the generals take over after he leaves.
That is unless Emmerson “The Crocodile” Mnangagwa, his former vice-president, doesn’t take over.
Many suspect that he is behind the recent coup for power, and that the military did not act in an unplanned, chaotic way, but was deliberately orchestrated by Mnangagwa – even though it looked chaotic to the people in the streets.
With terms of immunity having been agreed on, and a resignation letter drafted, all that is left is for the letter to be sent to parliament to be confirmed.
But with so many twists and turns in the story of Zimbabwe’s presidency, the world will be waiting to see if he does finally step down now, or if there is a final twist in this saga.