Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe defied expectations he would resign on Sunday, pledging to preside over a ZANU-PF congress in December even though the ruling party had removed him as its leader hours earlier.
ZANU-PF had given the 93-year-old less than 24 hours to quit as head of state or face impeachment, an attempt to secure a peaceful end to his tenure after a de facto coup.
Flanked by a row of generals, Mugabe acknowledged “a whole range of concerns from you all, citizens of our great country,” but he stressed that they “did not amount to a threat to the constitutional order nor a challenge to my authority as head of government, not even as commander of the Zimbabwean defence forces.Referring to next month’s ZANU-PF congress, Mugabe noted, “The congress is due in a few weeks from now. I will preside over its processes, which must not be possessed by any acts calculated to undermine it or compromise the outcomes in the eyes of the public.”
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