Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party will launch the parliamentary process on Tuesday for impeaching President Robert Mugabe, a government lawmaker has said. The decision on Monday came after Mugabe missed a deadline to resign given to him by his party over the weekend.
Once a simple majority of parliamentarians vote for impeachment, an investigative committee is formed by lawmakers, who report back to both houses of parliament. Each house must then vote by a two-thirds majority for him to be stripped of office. “We are expecting the motion to be over (on Tuesday),” ZANU- PF lawmaker Paul Mangwana said, referring to the initial procedure to commence impeachment proceedings.
He added that ZANU-PF had approached the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party to seek their cooperation to pass the necessary parliamentary votes. In a televised address late on Sunday, the 93-year-old veteran leader defied expectations he would quit, pitching the country into a second week of political crisis. The speech provoked anger and disbelief among many Zimbabweans, fuelling concerns that Mugabe could face a violent backlash.
Meanwhile, Robert Mugabe has “lost the support of the people and of his party”, Britain said on Monday after the Zimbabwean president insisted he still holds power despite a military takeover and demands to quit. “As Sunday’s events showed, we don’t yet know how developments in Zimbabwe are going to play out,” Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokesman said.
