The story of Robert Mugabe’s downfall – BBC Newsnight

it was Tuesday the 14th of November Ignatius Chamba Zimbabwe's finance minister had gone to bed early at his home in the affluent suburbs of Ferrari sometime after midnight masked men armed and wearing military fatigues burst in and took him away now he's in hospital purged from the party and under arrest we've come to see if he can tell us his story mr. chomp Oh was in a bed behind a screen under armed guard the following day he appeared in court charged with corruption but mr. Trumbo is real difficulty now is his association with Zimbabwe as former first lady well we've been hearing some really quite dramatic details about the arrests of supporters of Grace Mugabe on the night of the 14th of November events really that became the starting gun for the coup that overthrew Robert Mugabe as night fell the cameras assembled to catch a glimpse of one of Zimbabwe's most powerful men humbled and shackles herded into a prison van along with common criminals as this country embarked upon a new era some habits it seems diehard they can bomb to the gate to his to his house ended through the roof some of them others they broke the doors got in broke every door in the house until they finally came to where he was with his wife and I think they made and they were all asked to lie down they were then blindfolded and he was taken out of the house taken to a place that he cannot tell what what place that was and at the end of the day he was there for more than seven days we blindfolded throughout the entire period of his incarceration father Fidelis mo Kanuri is sometimes called Mugabe is confessing the events will be very fast I was found by family secretary in the Minister of Information he said father you know something's happened till hours this morning a Jesuit priest and close personal friend of many years when the generals made their move they asked some of the dailies to be here the tanks were indiscreet the boys were in space and this generals were is sober and a Samba is anything Reza knows there's no sign of jitteriness or over excitement or anger no did it strike you as a well-planned the generals had drawn up a list of demands which centered around the reinstatement of the exiled vice president Emerson and Goguen the main one was we will not accept the legacy of Zimbabwe the legacy of Robert Mugabe to be drained out or to be filled out by opportunists after finishing the meeting with the commander's I drove to president Gaby's residence because I called the Blue Room and we read the points one by one what was his reaction I've known Robert Mugabe as a guerrilla fighter and a leader he never loses his calmness not everyone who was at that first meeting remembers things going quite fast smoothly to people with knowledge of the conversation that day told us that Robert Mugabe said to the generals you can go to hell you can kill me if you want to and perhaps after 37 years in power that's a more plausible reaction but Robert Mugabe is the embodiment of power in Zimbabwe and the aim is to control that legacy not to kill it it's a delicate operation and it's not over yet the removal of Mugabe from the presidency brought euphoria onto the streets of her on the inauguration of a new president last Friday seemed like a moment of great promise and yet the figure of Robert Mugabe retains some respect for his role in the liberation struggle despite a record of political violence endemic corruption and unemployment I can say that we are how do you feel about President Mugabe do you still like him or do you not was if you were heads saying something negative about him but this was no revolution the soldiers on the street heralded an internal battle within zanu-pf the ruling party Managua and the military had gained the upper hand Grace Mugabe and her supporters were losing their grip okay Waltons MB is among the latter group he was appointed foreign minister just before the coup and he's a close confidence as the mcgaffeys when the tanks appeared on the streets his first thought was for his own safety nice place you have here I was in my bedroom perhaps this yeah I heard gunshots of course I said this can't be right whatever it is you don't wait for you yourself to be captured by unlucky if you suspect that's what it is you don't wait for it to happen I obviously sought sanctuary why did you I just went into into the auto looking back mr mosz mb says he should have known that trouble was coming so bad sometimes the military way were giving us warning that that if we insisted and continued to act the way we are doing in the party they would intervene so it's not like every warning they exactly yeah in hindsight now you realize they were warning us what we never took them seriously right that was a mistake Grace Mugabe had made many enemies using her power as first lady to publicly chastise party stalwart and veterans of the liberation struggle well short correct even some of us in public and there was absolutely nothing that I felt is wrong in our culture if you are corrected by mother except when it tends to border on abuse but if she corrects it what happened I think she behaved like that kind of mother would punish her children in public I think and if that is what incensed others yeah now the tables had turned from exile in South Africa Emmerson Managua sent a message to father Fidelis he wanted to speak to Mugabe I called him on my own my phone my cell phone they said I was fear I'm standing I was sitting next to the president he also wants to speak to you so the two spoke for exactly 10 minutes mangog WA had accused grace of trying to poison him now he told his former boss he said I had to leave the country for fear of my life and that's why I left the country you want me to come I loved Zimbabwe we would like to deal with the issue indeed I will come so the president said please please come come come come right away then that was the best words that was on the Friday by the weekend people were coming out onto the streets calling openly for Robert Mugabe to go these were scenes unthinkable just a few days earlier on Sunday Mugabe addressed the nation everyone expected you to resign but still he claimed some people close to Robert Mugabe say that by this time he'd already accepted that Emerson and Gaga would be his successor but if he wanted to hand over to him personally at a Party Congress in December others though say that he was still haggling over the terms and conditions of his retirement immunity from prosecution the security of his and his wife's businesses and properties even a lump sum in cash whatever the truth by the following Tuesday the 21st Parliament had begun impeachment proceedings and the game was up so I personally was pretty much taken by surprise yeah when I heard that he had capitulated and tendered his resignation but I thought that happened on the back of pressure that was coming from the impeachment process in Parliament what do you think it was that that finally made him capitulate he was betrayed by his colleagues by this their last minute switch but that's politics yeah mr mosz mb himself backed Mugabe to the last now he supports the new president his loyalty he says is to the office a short drive out of Harare through countryside of rolling hills and gold mines brings you to Missouri it was here that Grace Mugabe built her base centered around a sprawling mansion behind stone pillars this is known as Graceland many local people were pushed off their farms by the former first lady those who remain are still uneasy how has it been to be the neighbor of Grace Mugabe people still scared to talk for the past three and a half decades this country has been held together by fear few expect that to change quickly people said to me a week ago I couldn't have come out on the street and said what I'm saying now one person said to me I would have been I mean that gives you some indication of the kind of regime that people have been living under that you were also part of well I didn't get the sense that there was an infringement of civil liberties in this country Robert Mugabe ran a repressive regime to demonstrate without a police order naturally attracted the the reaction of the police at the time and I don't think even this successor administration would authorize a you know expression of freedom that you relate to unauthorized demonstration do you think there will be methane they may have a false sense of freedom if they think that they can be out on the streets to demonstrate without Polish sanction for decades robert mugabe outsmarted his enemies foreign and domestic now the combination of political acumen and intimidation that kept him in power for so long finally failed him father Fidelis was there when he was presented with his resignation papers he read them and the took his pen and sign and when he finished his signing his face just calmed it just glowed as if to say well it's over so what happens now the soldiers have largely returned to barracks life has almost returned to normal after 37 years of rule dominated by one man and one party the overwhelming imperative for the new regime is continuity not change

Channel: BBC Newsnight

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Keywords: bbc, newsnight, news, interview, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Gabriel Gatehouse

Id: KlpcfA50zWI

Length: 14min 9sec (849 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 29 2017