Five ministers attend Mugabe's weekly cabinet meeting
HARARE - Reuters
Mugabe held his weekly cabinet meeting on Nov. 21 but only five ministers and the attorney general turned up. 17 others
opted to attend a meeting to plan the impeachment.
Zimbabwe's parliament began an impeachment process against President Robert Mugabe on Nov. 21 that looks set to bring his domination of a country he has ruled since independence nearly four decades ago to an ignominious
end.
Mugabe enraged many Zimbabweans when he failed to resign following talks with the army’s top brass on Nov. 16, with sources suggesting the veteran leader was "buying time" to negotiate a favourable end to his 37-year reign.
He appeared publicly for the first time on Nov. 17 at a pre-planned graduation ceremony in Harare, further stoking speculation about his talks with General Constantino Chiwenga, who led the military power grab.
Later on Nov. 17, eight of the 10 regional branches of Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF took to state television to call for him to go -- yet another a serious blow to the embattled leader.
Mugabe was once admired, even in the West, as the "Thinking Man's Guerrilla", a world away from his image in his latter years as the stereotypical African dictator proudly declaring he held a "degree in violence."
As the economy crumbled and opposition to his rule grew in the late 1990s, Mugabe tightened his grip around the southern African country, seizing white-owned farms, unleashing security forces to crush dissent and speaking of ruling until he was 100.
