Tens of thousands of people have gathered in the centre of Harare to call for the resignation of Robert Mugabe, as moves to force Zimbabwe’s president to stand down gather pace.
Euphoric crowds filled streets in the capital on Saturday morning and cars honked their horns. “It’s like Christmas,” said one marcher, Fred Mubay. He said Zimbabweans had been suffering for a long time and were now, finally, happy.
Many carried national flags. One had a poster with a message for the 93-year-old president: “Leave Zimbabwe now!!!” while a vendor at an intersection held up a newspaper with the headline: “Mugabe cornered.”
The army seized power four days ago but Mugabe has refused its demands to leave office. The military and senior officials within the ruling Zanu-PF party now appear set on forcing Mugabe out within 48 hours.
Few options are open to the veteran autocrat, who has ruled Zimbabwe through a mixture of coercion, bribery and revolutionary rhetoric for nearly four decades. Support in some branches of the security establishment – such as the police – has evaporated and many political supporters have been detained.
The march – which has been sanctioned by the military – will demonstrate popular support for the takeover and a return to democracy. However, moves within Zanu-PF may prove the decisive factor in forcing Mugabe to step down.
By late Friday afternoon, all 10 of the country’s provincial Zanu-PF branches had passed motions of no confidence in the president. These could lead to Mugabe being stripped of office by Sunday, one official told the Guardian.
The state broadcaster ran a headline, “Zabnu-PF call for Mugabe to step down”, which would have been unthinkable a week ago, underlining the pace of change in the small southern African state.
Earlier on Friday, Mugabe, who had been confined to his residence in the upscale neighbourhood of Borrowdale since the takeover, attended a university graduation ceremony on the outskirts of Harare.
Clad in academic gown and hat, he walked slowly in a procession on a red carpet to a podium as a marching band played. He was applauded as he announced the opening of the ceremony.
On Friday morning an army statement describing “significant progress” was broadcast on national television and published by state-run media. The statement appeared to have been aimed at quelling growing concerns that the military takeover could descend into chaos.
Saturday’s march was organised by the powerful associations representing veterans of the former British colony’s liberation wars.
At a press conference on Friday, Chris Mutsvangwa, a leader of Zimbabwe’s war veterans, said the president would not be allowed to remain in power.
“Between now and tomorrow we are giving a very stark warning to Mugabe, his wife and anyone who wants to be associated with him that the game is up, finished,” Mutsvangwa said, to applause from the audience of journalists.
He urged Zimbabweans to attend the march “so we finish the job the army has started”.
The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said the military takeover resonated “with the national public sentiments and [was] hence irreversible in effect and fact”.
Dumiso Dabengwa, a former home affairs minister and liberation war veteran, congratulated the military on “the initiative they took to block the rise” of Grace Mugabe, the president’s 52-year-old wife.
“Ninety-nine percent of people want Mugabe to go. He is no longer in charge … Grace is in charge and Zimbabweans cannot fold their arms and let a character of that nature to lead. She had to be stopped,” Dabengwa told reporters in Johannesburg, South Africa.