freediver
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from crikey:
Mugabe poised to resign: latest reports
Thomas Hunter writes:
The unthinkable may be about to unfold in Zimbabwe, with reports emerging that president Robert Mugabe’s 28-year rule is about to end.
The Times Online claims a series of meetings have been held to devise a “facesaving exit” for the despotic ruler following Saturday’s national election.
Talks began after Mr Mugabe’s closest cohorts gathered at State House to inform him that he had not only failed to win an outright victory in the weekend’s presidential election, but was beaten into second place by his challenger …
South Africa was leading the behind-the-scenes negotiations on a power-sharing deal in which a member of Mr Mugabe’s ruling Zanu (PF) party would assume a vice-presidential position. Such a deal would also ensure that Mr Mugabe retained immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed during his authoritarian rule.
“It is over for Mugabe. No one is now talking about him staying on, just somehow finding a graceful exit,” a diplomat said.
News of the potential resolution began appearing late this morning following a delay of almost five days in releasing the election results, during which it was plain to Zimbabweans and the international community that Mugabe was tampering with them. Perhaps resigned to the result, it now appears that Mugabe loyalists have been in dicussions about how their leader might step down, thereby honouring the voters' decision:
The results of Saturday's election – though the regime has been unwilling to publish the true outcome – has shocked them into realising that the people of that economically devastated country have finally, and decisively, turned against the man who once led them to political emancipation, but who turned out to be yet another African despot.
The New York Times claims:
President Robert G. Mugabe’s decades-old control of Zimbabwe seemed to erode further on Tuesday, as diplomats, analysts and opposition members contended that negotiations were underway for Mr. Mugabe to step down after trailing in the race for the country’s next president.
Further, News.com.au is reporting that Mugabe "is ready to step down after he accepted he failed to win the country's presidential election, a senior source in his ruling party and diplomats said today."
An official in Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said the long-ruling president was prepared to step down but was still trying to win agreement from the army's chief of staff Constantine Chiwenga.
"He is prepared to step down because he doesn't want to embarrass himself by going to a run-off," the source said on condition of anonymity.
"There is only one person still blocking him, the army chief of staff."
But if an agreement has been reached, it appears to hinge on the silence of the Opposition, which continues to deny its involvement in discussions over Mugabe's resignation. In a typically graceful speech last night, Moverment for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai told Zimbabweans:
The challenge of giving birth to a new Zimbabwe founded on restoration and not on retribution; on equality and not discrimination; on love, not war; on tolerance, not hate.
After Saturday 29th of March 2008, Zimbabwe will never be the same again; the people have spoken with one voice.
I would like to thank the millions who came to reclaim their dignity and invest in the change they can trust.
I'd like to thank the thousands in every corner of our country who braved the cold to come and make a statement on Saturday 29th March: from the mothers in Bikita, grandfathers in Tsholotsho, widows in Mpopoma, sisters in Kwekwe, school teachers in Zhombe.
In those minutes inside the polling booth, each one of us re-wrote the history of Zimbabwe. For that particular moment we each held the destiny of our country in the pen we used to cast that vote.
The votes cast on Saturday was for change and a new beginning. It was a vote for jobs; it was a vote for food, for dignity, for respect, for decency and equality, for tolerance, for love, and for trust.
Our people, therefore, cannot wait for the execution of that mandate.
I know that in moments such as this there is a temptation to short-cut processes, and to resort to opportunistic pathways. We will exercise restraint, and leadership, as we have exercised over the years.
Indeed, for years we have refused to resort to violent and unconstitutional methods of achieving democratic change.
Against great seduction and temptation, we refuse to be swayed away from the paths of democracy and social justice. That commitment to those values will not be betrayed now.
However, I have to urge the electoral authority that is the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, to proceed with haste, and I think two and a half days is not haste at all!
We, on our part, will tomorrow disclose the totals from our count based on published returns at polling stations. And will after that result make a comment.
Thank you.
If this morning's reports are accurate, Tsvangirai's next speech may be the one that Zimbabweans have been awaiting for decades.
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