Zimbabwe's ruling party to meet to oust president

The ZANU-PF party will today remove President Robert Mugabe and reinstate his formerVice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife. Photo: AP

The ruling ZANU-PF party's central committee is scheduled to meet today at 10:30 a.m. (3:30 p.m. Hanoi time) to remove Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from office. The party will also remove First Lady Grace Mugabe from her position as leader of the ZANU-PF women's league.

They will reinstate former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was sacked by Mr Mugabe last week, two party sources said, according to Reuters.

Zimbabwean state television reported that Mr Mugabe will meet army commanders today.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Harare on November 18 to demand Mr Mugabe's resignation. Many marched to the Blue Roof villa - the President's residence - but the army prevented them from approaching the compound.

On November 15, the Zimbabwean military placed President Robert Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since 1980, under house arrest. Earlier, Mr. Mugabe fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, in a move seen as clearing the way for his wife to succeed him.

The military insists it is not a coup but wants to punish "criminals around the President" and bring to light those "who have committed crimes that have caused economic and social damage to the country." According to South African media, the military wants Mr. Mugabe to leave the chair quietly and transfer power smoothly and without bloodshed to Mr. Mnangagwa.

Zimbabwe was once Africa's leading agricultural exporter, but its economy has been in decline since the 2000s, when it began evicting and seizing farmland from white farmers. Zimbabwe experienced hyperinflation in 2007-2009 before it established a multi-currency trading system, with the US dollar being the most widely used. Zimbabwe's GDP per capita in 2016 was $978.

According to VNE