Zimbabwe’s Military Commanders Back President in Rare Briefing
Zimbabwe’s Military Commanders Back President in Rare Briefing
(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe’s top military generals said they’re fully behind President Emmerson Mnangagwa and denied speculation in some local media of an imminent coup.
The head of the army, police and prisons, along with the commanders of the air force and the intelligence agency made the announcement at a rare media briefing by the Joint Operations Command. The meeting was addressed by Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe, who criticized reports in publications including closely held ZimEye and Gambakwe Media that Mnangagwa’s rule is under threat.
“The government of the Republic of Zimbabwe has noted with concern rumors of an imminent coup,” Kazembe told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Harare. “Government would like to debunk and dismiss these rumors with the contempt they deserve.”
Mnangagwa has ruled Zimbabwe since late 2017, after a coup ended former President Robert Mugabe’s rule. He inherited a nation beset by U.S. and European sanctions on its leaders and state companies, $9 billion of debt and an economy decimated by the state’s seizure of commercial farms that accounted for much of its exports.
His government’s efforts to stabilize the economy have borne little fruit -- consumer inflation is running at 766%, the country’s recently revived currency has collapsed and the World Bank estimates the economy will shrink as much as 10% this year.
Mnangagwa on Wednesday blamed private business for the country’s economic woes.
“We are witnessing a relentless attack on our currency and the economy in general through exorbitant pricing models by the private sector,” he told members of the ruling party’s politburo. “We are fully cognisant that this is a battle being fueled by our political detractors, elite opportunists and malcontents who are bent on pushing a nefarious agenda they will never win.”
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