 President Mugabe, under heavy local and international pressure to step down, has called for a constitutional amendment that will allow an interim President to be appointed by his Zanu PF party and pave the way for fresh elections for a new government. Official sources said this was the message that had been communicated to President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, who is seen as a key player in delicate manoeuvres towards a transition from a dictatorship to democratic rule in Zimbabwe.
| We've heard these stories before and nothing's happened. My guess is that he'll stay until there's nothing left to loot — which, I suppose, could be now — or he dies of old age, which could be any time. |
It is understood that Mugabe wants his hand picked successor Joice Mujuru to be the interim President, although this could not be confirmed. Mbeki, who recently met UN secretary general Kofi Annan over the issue, is scheduled to lead a three-member, high-powered team to Harare within the next two months to iron out Mugabe's proposed exit plan, according to the sources. Zimdaily heard that Annan told Mbeki to keep the momentum going following Mugabe's positive signals in a birthday interview on ZTV last month.  In the interview, Mugabe hinted that he was considering stepping down as land redistribution that he had so much wanted to see implemented had been addressed.
| Everybody's got land but the owners. |
Mbeki is expected to work out a safe exit plan for Mugabe that will make him immune from prosecution for human rights abuses committed during his 26-year rule.
| I'll bet they're keeping a close eye on the Chuck Taylor case, above... |
Mugabe is particularly worried about the Matabeleland and Midlands massacres of the mid-1980s after he unleashed the Korean-trained 5 Brigade, led by the now Air Force of Zimbabwe boss, Perence Shiri, on the people of those provinces in suppressing an armed dissident uprising. Official sources told Zimdaily that Mugabe is concerned about "the future of his family and property, his party's simmering succession problems, a possible power vacuum after his departure and subsequent infighting within Zanu PF".
 The MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, a key player in any power transition, is on record as saying that Mugabe's security after he steps down will only be guaranteed in the context of a negotiated settlement of the current Zimbabwe crisis. Mugabe has stated that he is prepared to talk to the opposition leader if he drops his election results court challenge and recognises him as the legitimate President of Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai has flatly refused to agree to those conditions. Mugabe won the presidential election in 2002 in controversial circumstances. The poll was condemned internationally as being fraught with irregularities and glaring rigging. |