Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe resigns hours after his impeachment was set in motion
Former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa will take over as the head of state within 48 hours, an official of the ruling party said.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe resigned on Tuesday, hours after the Parliament began impeachment proceedings against him. Parliament Speaker Jacob Francis Mudenda said he had received the 93-year-old’s resignation letter.
Former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa will take over as the head of state within 48 hours, AP quoted an unidentified leader of Zimbabwe’s ruling party as saying.
“I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, in terms of Section 96 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, hereby formally tender my resignation...with immediate effect,” the Speaker said while reading out the letter.
The impeachment proceedings against Mugabe came to a halt after the Speaker’s announcement, the BBC reported. The Parliament cheered after Mudenda announced the president’s resignation.
This brings Mugabe’s 37-year rule in Zimbabwe to an end. His government was accused of several human rights violations. Mugabe is also accused of maladministration, which has led to a collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy and healthcare system, among other administrative failures.
Robert Mugabe resigned as president of Zimbabwe Tuesday, parliament speaker Jacob Mudenda told lawmakers, ending a 37-year rule defined by brutality and economic collapse pic.twitter.com/pnCVBHJxqW
— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 21, 2017
The African country’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe Africa National Unity-Patriotic Front, had made an impeachment motion in Parliament earlier on Tuesday. The Opposition party Movement for Democratic Change had supported it.
The chief whip of Zanu-PF, Lovemore Matuke, had moved the motion, reported the Bulawayo 24 News channel. “The time has come indeed, the moment of truth,” Zanu-PF Spokesperson Simon Moyo said before entering the legislature.