Zimbabwe’s likely new leader Emmerson Mnangagwa

HE HAS earned a fearsome reputation as Robert Mugabe’s deputy. And the man tipped to replace Robert Mugabe could be even worse.

ROBERT Mugabe’s iron grip on power has finally been broken.

Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe’s president overnight, finally swept from power as his 37-year reign of autocratic control and brutality crumbled within days of a military takeover.

The move looks set to end Zimbabwe’s worst political crisis since it won independence from Britain in 1980.

The bombshell announcement came at a special joint session of parliament convened to impeach Mugabe, 93, who has dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades.

On the streets, the news sparked wild celebrations, with car horns being honked and people erupting into ecstatic cheers and frenzied dancing.

In a highly symbolic scene, a man removed a portrait of Mugabe from a conference room where MPs had gathered.

Another bystander replaced it with an image of former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s fired deputy. He was once a key Mugabe ally who had been Grace Mugabe’s chief rival to succeed him and his dismissal on November 6 triggered the crisis.

The ruling ZANU-PF party indicated Mnangagwa could swiftly be named interim president as the country charts a way through the turbulence.

“Mnangagwa... will come back in the next 24 hours or so and he will be the one who will be sworn in to be president for 90 days,” said party spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo.

Mnangagwa has been by Mugabe’s side for years. Picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

WHO IS THE MAN THEY CALL ‘THE CROCODILE?’

Known as The Crocodile due to his survival skills, Mnangagwa, has earned a fearsome reputation and has been beside Mugabe during his 37 years in power.

However according to CCN, Mugabe’s enforcer has been “eyeing the presidency and manoeuvring to dethrone Mugabe for some time”.

Concerns have been raised that the country is about to go from one dictator to another with Mnangagwa “more widely feared” than Mugabe ever was.

Mnangagwa, a former state security chief, is now in line to head an interim post-Mugabe unity government that will focus on rebuilding ties with the outside world and stabilising an economy in free fall.

Footage of the broadcast of Zimbabwe Broadcasting corporation (ZBC) shows President Robert Mugabe delivering a speech in Harare, following a meeting with army chiefs who have seized power. Picture: ZBC/AFP

DEPUTY OF ‘TERROR’

Some Mugabe opponents have questioned the prominent role played by the military and fear the country is swapping one army-backed autocrat with another, rather than allowing the people to choose their next leader.

US diplomatic cables mooted Mnangagwa as a potential successor to Mugabe as far back as 2000.

Cables released as part of a huge cache leaked to whistleblowing WikiLeaks also reveal more about Mnangagwa’s dark past with former diplomat Earl Irving saying he was “widely feared and despised throughout the country”.

They also warned he could be “an even more repressive leader” than his predecessor, CNN reported.

As head of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), or secret police, Mnangagwa became Mugabe’s chief enforcer.

THE STRATEGIST

Mnangagwa also earned a reputation for being ruthless and manipulative when it comes to power and is more feared by his countrymen than he is popular.

He has also strategically developed a loyal support base, particularly among military and security forces.

Graffiti in support of the ruling ZANU PF party is pictured on a building in Harare. Picture: AP

Those loyal to him are known as Team Lacoste, with a crocodile being a key icon of the brand, the Associated Press reported.

He also had plenty of time to prepare a strategy for Mugabe’s downfall after the president and his wife had demonised him for months.

His supporters had the military place the couple under house arrest and protests calling for his resignation were no accident.

Piers Pigou, southern Africa expert for the International Crisis Group, said it wasn’t a spontaneous act.

“It was not a last-minute operation,” he said. “The demonstration was orchestrated.”

Mnangagwa’s allies had also pushed the ruling ZANU-PF to remove Mugabe as leader.

REVOLUTIONARY’S PAST

Mnangagwa joined the fight against white minority rule of Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia, while still a teenager in the 1960s.

As one of the earliest guerrilla fighters against Ian Smith’s Rhodesian regimen, he was captured, tortured and convicted of blowing up a locomotive in 1965.

Emmerson Mnangagwa is closer to securing the presidency. Picture: Jekesai NJikizana/AFP

Sentenced to death by hanging, he was found to be under 21, and his punishment was commuted to 10 years in prison and he was jailed with other prominent nationalists including Mugabe.

While imprisoned, Mnangagwa studied through a correspondence school.

After his release in 1975, he went to Zambia, where he completed a law degree. Soon he went to newly independent Marxist Mozambique, where he became Mugabe’s assistant and bodyguard.

When Zimbabwe achieved independence, Mnangagwa was appointed minister of security.

He directed the merger of the Rhodesian army with Mugabe’s guerrilla forces and the forces of rival nationalist leader Joshua Nkomo and has kept close ties with the military and security forces since.

In 1983, Mugabe launched a brutal campaign against Nkomo’s supporters that became known as the Matabeleland massacres.

He is reputed to have amassed a considerable fortune and was named in a United Nations investigation into exploitation of mineral resources in Congo and has been active in making Harare a significant diamond trading centre.

British Labour MP Kate Hoey also described Mnangagwa’s in a parliamentary debate as “probably the one person in Zimbabwe who inspires even greater terror than Mugabe”.

Protesters demonstrate outside the Embassy of Zimbabwe in London to call on the leader of the country Robert Mugabe to resign. Picture: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

— with wires

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