Zimbabweans have been urged to stage a massive protest on Saturday to push President Robert Mugabe out of office following a military takeover of all key state institutions.
Christopher Mutsvangwa, chairperson of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association, told journalists that the planned protest is designed to push the president out of office.
The furious Mutsvangwa, who claims that this is the end game for the president, stressed that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces will back the people in the public protests in a move likely to attract thousands of people currently facing serious social and economic hardships.
At the same time, former Zipra military intelligence supremo Dumiso Dabengwa, also urged Zimbabweans to join the protest saying people are tired of President Mugabe’s “autocratic rule”.
The Zimbabwe Defence Forces seized key state institutions on Wednesday, confined President Mugabe to a house arrest and clamped on what they termed thieves surrounding the president, including Professor Jonathan Moyo, Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo, Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, Zanu PF Youth League secretary Kudzanayi Chipanga and several others.
The detainees, who are in army barracks, are said to be members of a faction of the ruling party that were seeking the elevation of First Lady Grace Mugabe to the post of vice president left vacant after the expulsion of Emmerson Mnangagwa.