HARARE: Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe cried and lamented “betrayal by his lieutenants” when he agreed to step down last week under pressure from the military and his party after 37 years in power, the Standard newspaper said in its Sunday edition.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former Mugabe loyalist, was sworn in on Friday and attention is focused on whether he will name a broad-based government or select figures from Mugabe’s era.
The newspaper quoted sources within Mugabe’s inner circle as saying the devout Catholic held a rosary as he told his close associates and a team of negotiators at his “Blue House” Harare mansion that he was resigning. He announced the decision as parliament heard a motion to impeach him.
“He looked down and said ‘people were chameleons’,” one of the sources was quoted as saying.
The state-owned Sunday Mail quoted Father Fidelis Mukonori, a Jesuit priest who is a close Mugabe friend and mediated his resignation with the military, as saying Mugabe’s face “just glowed” after he signed the resignation letter.
“So we are not talking about a bitter man. I told him that it was good for him to see someone running the country...,” Mukonori told the Sunday Mail.
Neither Father Mukonori nor Mugabe’s close aides were immediately available for comment.
Mugabe’s fall after 37 years in power was spurred by a battle to succeed him that pitted Mnangagwa, who had stood by him for 52 years, and Mugabe’s wife Grace, who is 52.
The privately-owned Standard newspaper, which has been critical of Mugabe and his government over the years, urged Mnangagwa to “walk the talk on graft.”
At his swearing in ceremony on Friday, Mnangagwa said he valued democracy, tolerance and the rule of law and would tackle corruption. He has also urged citizens not to undertake “vengeful retribution.”
The new government is already moving to bring some of Mugabe and his wife’s close associates to book and former finance minister Ignatius Chombo was in court on Saturday on corruption charges.
Chombo was among several members of a group allied to Grace who were detained and expelled from the ruling ZANU-PF party after the military seized power in “Operation Legacy” which it said was meant to remove the “criminals” around Mugabe.
Chombo, who told the court he was forcibly removed from his home on Nov. 15 by armed men wearing military uniform, was detained until Monday when his bail application will be heard. He was led away in leg irons together with ousted head of the ruling ZANU-PF’s influential youth league Kudzanai Chipanga.
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe cried when he agreed to step down, report says
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe cried when he agreed to step down, report says
UK upper house approves social media ban for under-16s
LONDON: Britain’s upper house of parliament voted Wednesday in favor of banning under?16s from using social media, raising pressure on the government to match a similar ban passed in Australia.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday he was not ruling out any options and pledged action to protect children, but his government wants to wait for the results of a consultation due this summer before legislating.
Calls have risen across the opposition and within the governing Labour party for the UK to follow Australia, where under-16s have been barred from social media applications since December 10.
The amendment from opposition Conservative lawmaker John Nash passed with 261 votes to 150 in the House of Lords, co?sponsored by a Labour and a Liberal Democrat peer.
“Tonight, peers put our children’s future first,” Nash said. “This vote begins the process of stopping the catastrophic harm that social media is inflicting on a generation.”
Before the vote, Downing Street said the government would not accept the amendment, which now goes to the Labour-controlled lower House of Commons. More than 60 Labour MPs have urged Starmer to back a ban.
Public figures including actor Hugh Grant urged the government to back the proposal, saying parents alone cannot counter social media harms.
Some child-protection groups warn a ban would create a false sense of security.
A YouGov poll in December found 74 percent of Britons supported a ban. The Online Safety Act requires secure age?verification for harmful content.
