Zimbabwean President Mugabe Addresses Nation, Refuses To Resign

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Sunday delivered an address to the nation, in which he vowed to remain in power for several weeks.

The 93-year-old spoke in a live TV address, hours after he was fired as leader of the ruling ZANU-PF part, and replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, former Vice President he sacked this month.

Mr Mnangagwa was named as Zanu-PF’s new leader and candidate for the 2018 general elections.

Mugabe’s wife Grace, who had harbored ambitions of succeeding Mugabe, was also expelled from the party, with the move seen as a step closer to the total removal of Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s president.

The ruling party also gave the president until noon on Monday to step down or face impeachment.

Many had expected the troubled leader to resign during the speech on Sunday night, but Mugabe said he will preside over the upcoming ZANU-PF Congress in December.

Thousands of Zimbabweans took to the streets of Harare on Saturday to protest President Robert Mugabe and demand that he step down.

Crisis was triggered after Mr Mugabe sacked his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, two weeks ago, angering the army who saw it as an attempt to move his wife, Grace, into the position of his successor.

His stunning downfall in just four days is likely to send shockwaves across Africa, where a number of entrenched strongmen, from Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila, are facing mounting pressure to quit.

Men, women and children ran alongside the armored cars and troops who stepped in this week to oust the man who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.

Under house arrest in his lavish ‘Blue Roof’ compound, Mugabe has refused to stand down even as he has watched his support from party, security services and people evaporate in less than three days.

His nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, told Reuters Mugabe and his wife were “ready to die for what is correct” rather than step down in order to legitimize what he described as a coup.

The United States, a long-time Mugabe critic, said it was looking forward to a new era in Zimbabwe, while President Ian Khama of neighbouring Botswana said Mugabe had no diplomatic support in the region and should resign at once.