



ZANU-PF: Press Statement by the Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity CDE Ambassador S.K. Moyo on the Outcome of the Central Committee Special Session Held at the Party Headquarters In Harare on the 19th November 2017









Today is a day should be coined either Un-Coup Party or 2nd Independence Day, as the crowds and people have been marching in Bulawayo and in Harare. Where they have been marching in solidarity and in peace. Where there been people taking selfies with soldiers, even some have polished the shoes of the soldiers. They have taken down the Robert Mugabe Road sign. They are filling up buses and marching towards the State House while saying “Mugabe Must Go”. Dough Coltart proclaims this: “ Corner 4th & Baines Ave in central Harare. It is packed like this for blocks and blocks and blocks. People have had enough!” (Doug Coltart, 18.11.2017). So people have been walking from Freedom Square and towards the State House. The military have blocked the crowds from getting to close. But the message and the levels of peaceful march. Proves that all society and everyone is ready for a change from Mugabe into something else.
Today, the masses is speaking and the proof of the real unpopularity of Mugabe, as the streets are packed. The marches filled with placards and slogans, which all about the end of the Mugabe era. While that is happening the nephew Patrick Zhuwao says Bob and Grace are “Ready to die for what is correct” (Sky News, 18.11.2017). Well, what is correct now is to step down, that is proven by the public. Who are greeting the soldiers and the state has even been giving out juice to the protesters was walking from Freedom Square towards the State House.
“No deal signed in talks at State House. ZanuPF will decide tomorrow when Central Committee meets. Army generals have come out, thanked the marchers and asked them to go home” (Zim Media Review, 18.11.2017). So we still have to wait, but the message from the people has been sent with their peaceful demonstration together with the army. They are so tired of Mugabe that anything else is positive. This day has turned into a public display of wanting liberation and freedom.
There been no disorder, no mutiny and no violence. Just a peaceful display of fatigue against the Mugabe dynasty. Where they finally seeing the end of the tunnel and the second liberation. When the people and the army can create a better republic. There have even been shown clips of people demonstrating directly on the outside of the “blue roof” Mugabe’s residence. So today is a day in the name of democracy and change.
It has been done with peace and with positive movement from the people. All Zimbabweans should be proud of today, what sort of public display and act of civic duty to walk in the streets, marching against the tyranny and also for a new beginning.
Even the Herald of Zimbabwe reported this: “A spirit of unity prevailed as Zimbabweans took to the streets in a solidarity march supported by war veterans, activists, political leaders” (The Herald Zimbabwe, 18.11.2017). All of this shows the changes of Harare and the republic as whole. When even state media is supporting the movement of the people and not chanting proverbs of Mugabe. This week has really changed Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean people deserve credit for their solidarity march to the State House and the War Veterans Rally at the Highfield in Harare. This event today has shown the value of people’s power and a peaceful rally. This has to be celebrated. The Zimbabwean people deserve be praised for today. Peace.








Well, as the day progress and the coup d’état in Harare. That has toppled President Robert Mugabe in the last 48 hours, as the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) power struggle has led to the demise of the 37 years of Mugabe. Why it is important is that the former Ethiopian dictator who left for exile was there on the accord of Mugabe. His powers and his control is out. Therefore, it now matters to the current leadership in Addis Ababa and the new in Harare. What will happen with this old-man, whose saving grace was the opening arms of Mugabe. But now that has no currency in any trade.
“Almost five years since a civil war overthrew the Marxist military dictatorship of Lieut. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, the challenge for Ethiopia has been not only to create a new identity, but also to deal with its heritage” (…) “Colonel Mengistu’s rule tried to obliterate this heritage and create a Marxist state. In the process, tens of thousands of people were killed, including the Emperor, as many were tortured and more than a million peasants were relocated. In a war against guerrilla fighters, Colonel Mengistu’s military bombed entire regions, flattening towns and propagating a reign of terror” (Lorch, 1995)
“The Dergue had been executing suspected EPRP members since 1976, but after Mengistu seized full control in 1977, the “Red Terror” was officially unleashed. During this two-year campaign, which has been divided into “three waves,” tens of thousands of Ethiopians were arrested, tortured, and summarily executed. To assist in exterminating the Dergue’s political opponents and “enemies of the revolution,” Mengistu employed the secret police and issued arms to local government, or kebele, officials (Mayfield 1995)” (USBCIS, 1999).
So a man who fled Ethiopia in 1991 and got to exile, are no an open question, as he was the guest of Mugabe. Will the new administration want his presence or do they want him gone? What is their thoughts after toppling on dictator, do they want to have the second one lingering, even if he isn’t their own?
“An airport official said Colonel Mengistu was wearing green fatigues and looked “close to tears.” The Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, who invited Colonel Mengistu here as a way to resolve Ethiopia’s civil war, insisted that the arrival be kept as quiet as possible. Mr. Mugabe was at the airport just an hour earlier, but he left for London on a private visit, avoiding any public meeting with the Ethiopian. Mugabe Returns a Favor. The Zimbabwe Government has issued no statement on Colonel Mengistu, and given no confirmation or denial of his presence in the country. But Government officials have said that Colonel Mengistu is expected to settle here” (New York Times, 1991).
That means that the exiled dictator and the man behind the Red Terror of Ethiopia has been living in Harare since 1991, that means 26 years he has had in peaceful existence there. While this has happen in Ethiopian Supreme Court in January 2007, the exiled President was sentenced to death in his absence. That meaning, if he has to return to Ethiopia. It will he his direct demise and himself paying the price for his leadership in Ethiopia between 1976 and 1991. Clearly, the EPRDF the one party overthrowing the DERG want to retaliate, especially considering that he fled and has been sentenced since leaving.
So we can wonder what will be his fate, will the TPLF or the EPRDF ask for his Extradition from Zimbabwe? Or will they just let him be or will the new leadership ask him to leave and where should he go? Since he would in midst turmoil in Ethiopia and hard for someone sentenced to death in their homeland to become refugee on humanitarian grounds. Even if he wants to try to become political refugee, most likely very few countries wants his residence, except for Equatorial Guinea who recently accepted Yayha Jammeh from Gambia. Peace.
Reference:
New York Times – ‘EX-ETHIOPIA CHIEF REACHES ZIMBABWE’ (23.05.1991) link: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/23/world/ex-ethiopia-chief-reaches-zimbabwe.html
Lorch, Donatella – ‘ Ethiopia Deals With Legacy of Kings and Colonels’ (31.12.1995) link: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/31/world/ethiopia-deals-with-legacy-of-kings-and-colonels.html
United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USBCIS) – ‘Ethiopia: Background Information on the Mengistu Regime during the Red Terror’ (28.12.1999) link: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a6b414.html







