Zimbabwe military chief issues ‘step in’ warning

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s decision to sack vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa drew a sharp warning from the southern African nation’s top military general on Monday.

General Constantino Chiwenga, commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, said the military “will not hesitate to step in” if members of the ruling Zanu-PF party who were involved in the country’s independence struggle continue to be removed from power.

“The current purging which is clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background must stop forthwith," Chiwenga said, flanked by 90 senior army officers, during a press conference at the army headquarters.

“We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in.”

Succession battle splits

Zanu-PF is divided over who will eventually succeed 93-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years, with one faction rallying behind Mugabe's wife Grace and another rooting for Mnangagwa.

Grace Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare, Zimbabwe, on February 10, 2016. /Reuters Photo

Chris Mutsvangwa, head of the country’s influential war veterans association and former ambassador to China, hit out at Mugabe after sacking the 75-year-old Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa fought alongside Mugabe in a guerilla war in the 1970s, but fled into exile after being sacked by the Zimbabwean president for showing “traits of disloyalty.”

He left the country amid claims that he was being targeted by “assassins.”

The former vice president and security chief, nicknamed “The Crocodile”, vowed “to return to Zimbabwe to lead you” in a statement addressed to the Zimbabwean people.

The backers of 52-year-old Grace Mugabe – known as Generation 40 – are broadly made up of people who did not fight in the independence war and believe that a younger group should lead Zanu-PF.

Zanu-PF is due to hold a congress next month, when Grace Mugabe could be appointed as one of the country's two vice presidents.

Economic woes

Chiwenga added that infighting within Zanu-PF had had an effect on the economy, causing serious cash shortages and soaring prices of basic commodities.

Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in favor of the US dollar in 2009 due to hyperinflation, but introduced "bond notes" after running out of dollars in 2016.

The bond notes are now in short supply, forcing banks to ration cash withdrawals.

People queue to withdraw money from a bank in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 8, 2017. /Reuters Photo

“There is distress, trepidation and despondence within the nation,” the general said.

“Our peace-loving people, who have stood by their government and endured some of the most trying social and economic conditions ever experienced are extremely disturbed by what is happening within the ranks of the national revolutionary party.”

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