The country’s army confirmed the 93-year-old president had been ‘detained’ after 37 years in office but insisted he was ‘safe’. Soldiers had earlier seized the country’s state TV station amid explosions and gunfire after tanks rolled into capital Harare
ZIMBABWEAN tyrant Robert Mugabe was this morning booted from office – as a military coup ended his 37-year iron grip on power.
The country’s army confirmed the 93-year-old president had been “detained” but insisted he was “safe” – as reports emerged his hated wife Grace had fled to nearby Namibia.
She was widely accused of running the country for infirm Mugabe and feared to be plotting a power grab when he died.
His reviled wife was this morning reported to have fled to Namibia.
The army finally stepped in yesterday after Mugabe fired popular number two Mnangagwa, his probable successor, last week.
The alleged Zanu-PF account added: “Last night the first family was detained and are safe, both for the constitution and the sanity of the nation this was necessary.
“Today begins a fresh new era and comrade Mnangagwa will help us achieve a better Zimbabwe.”
Leading commentator on Zimbabwean politics Chris Mutsvangwa said: “This is a correction of a state that was careering off the cliff.
“It’s the end of a very painful and sad chapter in the history of a young nation, in which a dictator, as he became old, surrendered his court to a gang of thieves around his wife.”
Conservative MP James Duddridge – who dealt with Zimbabwe during a spell at the Foreign Office – said Mugabe should be given a “soft landing” to prevent bloodshed.
He said: “I very much hope for a bloodless and peaceful transition from an autocratic dictator, who has served his time and needs to move on, to a more democratic, open nation state that will trade and prosper and start to rejuvenate the Zimbabwean people.
“There’s always a concern when there’s a transition of power but we must remember Mugabe is loved by many people around Africa as a revolutionary leader.
“But he’s morphed from that into a rather distasteful dictator who has abused his position.
“Providing Mugabe with a soft landing outside of Zimbabwe which, whilst is distasteful given everything that he has done and has been done in his name, will allow for a less bloody transition.”
