2017 Military Coup: Plot to arrest Chiwenga at airport backfires for Mugabe
The inside story of Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup is coming out, showing how army leaders moved against Robert Mugabe. It started when soldiers stopped police from arresting Vice President Chiwenga at the airport as he came back from China on November 12.
When Mugabe wouldn’t meet with army leaders the next day, they gathered at KGVI Barracks to plan. That night, they went on TV to make demands, starting what would become the coup.
Former spy chief Happyton Bonyongwe got a midnight call from Mugabe on November 15. “Mugabe advised me that the army had gone to Chombo, Kasukuwere and Moyo’s homes and caused some damage. The former had been arrested, but Moyo and Kasukuwere had arrived at the Blue Roof, the President’s residence,” he writes.
Bonyongwe says the army didn’t plan the coup well. They moved their vehicles slowly through Harare, which could have let someone stop them. But Mugabe didn’t act fast enough to save himself.
Trying to keep control, Mugabe wanted to fire Chiwenga and make Air Marshal Perence Shiri the new army chief. But when Bonyongwe called Shiri about this, Shiri claimed he was at an air show in Dubai.
The army kept Mugabe at his house but still let him look like he was president while they talked. They even allowed him to go give speeches at a graduation ceremony.
“I felt sad because Robert Mugabe was losing power ungracefully and all indications were that even the region was abandoning him. There did not appear to be any help for him from anywhere,” Bonyongwe says.
When protesters started walking toward Mugabe’s house, he got scared. Even after ruling with force for years, he feared public protests. He called Chiwenga in panic to stop the crowds.
Making one last try to stay in power, Mugabe sent Gideon Gono to offer Chiwenga the top job instead of Mnangagwa. Chiwenga said no.
On November 21, facing charges of breaking the constitution and not doing his job, Mugabe shocked everyone by quitting. “I have decided to resign!” he told people at his house, ending his 37 years in charge.
When Bonyongwe took Mugabe’s resignation letter to Parliament, people booed him and some wouldn’t sit near him. But when the Speaker read the letter, everyone cheered – Zimbabwe’s longest rule was over.
