The 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état was a bloodless military coup that took place in Zimbabwe on 14 to 21 November 2017, when Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe was removed as president and party leader of ZANU–PF and was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa.
On the evening of 14 November 2017, elements of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) gathered around Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, and seized control of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and key areas of the city. The next day, the ZDF issued a statement saying that it was not a coup d'état and that President Mugabe was safe, although the situation would return to normal only after the ZDF had dealt with the "criminals" around Mugabe responsible for the socio-economic problems of Zimbabwe. Jacob Zuma, the then president of South Africa, phoned Mugabe and was told that Mugabe was under house arrest but otherwise "fine".
The uprising took place amid tensions in the ruling ZANU–PF party between former first vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa (who was backed by the ZDF) and first lady Grace Mugabe (who was backed by the younger G40 faction) over who would succeed the 93-year-old president Mugabe. A week after Mnangagwa was fired and forced to flee the country, and a day before troops moved into Harare, ZDF chief Constantino Chiwenga issued a statement that purges of senior ZANU–PF officials like Mnangagwa had to stop.
On 19 November, ZANU-PF removed Mugabe as party leader, replacing him with Mnangagwa, and issued a deadline of 20 November for Mugabe to resign the presidency or face impeachment. Mugabe did not resign, so on 21 November a joint session of Parliament met for his impeachment. After the session convened, Mugabe sent a letter to Zimbabwe's Parliament resigning the presidency. Second Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko became the Acting President. Mnangagwa was sworn in as president on 24 November 2017.
Background
Early October
On the second week of October 2017, tensions between Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Grace Mugabe, two leading figures to replace the 93-year-old Robert Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe, were prominently displayed in the public sphere. Mnangagwa, a protégé of Mugabe's who had been his ally since the Zimbabwe War of Independence in the 1960s, said that doctors had confirmed that he had been poisoned during an August 2017 political rally led by the president and had to be airlifted to a hospital in South Africa for treatment. He also pledged his loyalty to the ZANU–PF party and President Mugabe and said that the story spread by his supporters that Grace Mugabe had ordered the poisoning via a dairy farm she controlled was untrue.
Grace Mugabe denied the poisoning claims as ridiculous and rhetorically asked: "Who is Mnangagwa, who is he?" Phelekezela Mphoko, Zimbabwe's other vice-president, publicly criticised Mnangagwa, saying that his comments about the August incident were part of an attempt to destabilise the country and undermine the authority of the president, since doctors had actually concluded that stale food was to blame.
4 October
During a planned speech in Harare, Grace Mugabe went off-script to attack Mnangagwa, saying that her supporters were constantly receiving threats that if Mnangagwa did not succeed Mugabe, they would be assassinated and that the faction backing Mnangagwa was plotting a coup d'état.
At a rally, President Mugabe publicly rebuked Mnangagwa for the first time. At the same rally, Grace Mugabe called him a "coup plotter" and a "coward". The president fired Mnangagwa on 6 November. A statement from Information Minister Simon Khaya-Moyo said that Mnangagwa had "consistently and persistently exhibited traits of disloyalty, disrespect, deceitfulness and unreliability".
Mnangagwa's dismissal essentially left Grace Mugabe, supported by her Generation 40 (G40) faction of younger ZANU–PF officials, as the only major contender to succeed Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa, one of Mugabe's last political allies who had stayed with him since independence in 1980, had the support of several generals in the Zimbabwean army, who had publicly stated that only a veteran of the war for independence – which would rule out Grace Mugabe – should rule the country. Although Mugabe had depended on support from the military to maintain his rule, in the last few years he had undertaken a systematic replacement of old veterans from the war of independence in important ZANU–PF party positions with younger officials who did not fight in the war. This move was seen as risky because Grace Mugabe was a divisive figure in Zimbabwe and did not have much support from important ZANU–PF officials from the liberation war era or in the South African region.
8–12 November
On 8 November 2017, Mnangagwa fled to Mozambique and then South Africa to escape "incessant threats" against his family. Mnangagwa issued a statement saying that he did not plan to harm Mugabe. He told Mugabe, "You and your cohorts will instead leave ZANU–PF by the will of the people and this we will do in the coming few weeks." Mnangagwa vowed to return and called for members of ZANU–PF to abandon the president. After his exile, more than a hundred of Mnangagwa's alleged senior supporters were targeted for disciplinary sanctions by backers of Grace Mugabe.
That same day, Christopher Mutsvangwa also left for South Africa, where he warned South African intelligence that a military intervention was about to take place in Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Zimbabwean army chief General Constantino Chiwenga was on an official visit to China, where he met generals Chang Wanquan and Li Zuocheng. While in China, General Chiwenga was advised by the military intelligence wing that Mugabe had ordered his arrest upon his return to Zimbabwe on 12 November 2017. Plans had already been put in place through the ZRP Support Unit (A paramilitary wing of the police). Soldiers loyal to Chiwenga, disguised as baggage handlers, overpowered the police at the airport and cleared the way for his arrival.
13 November
Chiwenga called a press conference at the military headquarters where he read a statement saying that the military would intervene if their historical political allies continued to be targeted. He called recent events "treacherous shenanigans" and said that the military "will not hesitate to step in" if that was necessary to protect the Zimbabwean revolution. Chiwenga urged people to attend the December 2017 ZANU–PF party congress to exercise their democratic rights and that the party had been infiltrated by counter-revolutionaries. He also said that the infighting and purges in ZANU–PF had led to chaos and "no meaningful development in the country for the past five years". The statement was made with ninety high-ranking officers from important units of the Zimbabwe National Army present to create an image of army unity. The statement was originally broadcast on Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the state broadcaster, but pulled off the air, though there was no initial official government response.
Timeline of events
14 November
Military armoured vehicles were spotted on roadways around Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, and drove in convoys through the city. The same day, Kudzanayi Chipanga, the leader of the ruling ZANU–PF party's youth league, which is aligned with Grace Mugabe, said that the Youth League was "ready to die" to try to prevent the army from deposing Mugabe and choosing a new leader, and that the generals should retire if they were unsatisfied with Mugabe's rule and wanted to become politicians. Mugabe attended a weekly meeting of the Zimbabwe cabinet in the afternoon. In the early evening after the cabinet meeting, Khaya-Moyo spoke for ZANU–PF and accused Chiwenga of treason and inciting insurrection.
That evening, soldiers took over the Harare offices of the state broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), manhandling some of its employees. Workers at the ZBC were later told that they did not have to worry and that the troops were protecting the station. According to the military, the reason for its actions was that the ZBC had been ordered not to broadcast the military's statement the previous day.
Around 10:30 pm, Albert Ngulube, director of security of the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation, was arrested by soldiers after leaving Mugabe's home. He was beaten up at the Presidential Guard headquarters and was released on 17 November for medical treatment at a private hospital in the capital.
15 November
The army then proceeded to raid the homes of twenty other people. Minister of Higher Education Jonathan Moyo was tipped off by a member of the army on early Wednesday morning and fled to the house of Saviour Kasukuwere, Minister of Local Government, and his family. That home was then attacked by the army around 2.30 am with gunfire before a ceasefire allowed the two families to escape to Mugabe's home. The army also raided the home of Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo, but they came under fire from his private Israeli security guards. One member of the guard was killed. Chombo was detained and assaulted by the troops; US$10 million in cash was found in the house. Police duties had been restricted and Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri was missing, presumed arrested.
At 5 am Major General Sibusiso Moyo, the army chief of staff and an ally of Chiwenga's, spoke on behalf of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces in a broadcast on ZBC. Moyo asserted that it was not a military takeover and that President Mugabe was safe. However, the statement also said that the military was "targeting criminals" around Mugabe responsible for the country's socio-economic problems, and that after they achieved their aims, the situation would "return to normalcy". Moyo announced that all military leave was cancelled, soldiers should return to their barracks, security forces should "cooperate for the good of our country", and that "any provocation will be met with an appropriate response". Moyo also said that the independence of the judiciary of Zimbabwe was guaranteed and that citizens should remain calm and avoid unnecessary movement.
After the speech, the military apprehended Ignatius Chombo, the Zimbabwean finance minister and a leader of G40, the pro-Grace Mugabe faction of ZANU–PF. According to South Africa's The Times, other cabinet ministers seized who were leaders in G40 included Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere.
Also early that morning, gunfire and artillery were heard in the northern suburbs of Harare, where many government officials, including the president, had their residences. According to Agence France-Presse, a witness heard sustained gunfire near Mugabe's private home in the suburb of Borrowdale. Reuters reported an explosion close to the main campus of the University of Zimbabwe. Soldiers also blocked access to the Parliament of Zimbabwe, government buildings, courthouses, and the president's official residence in Harare. It was reported that two journalists were assaulted by the military and hospitalised.
The military announced a press conference for the morning, where it was expected that the responsible officers would present a deal with President Mugabe that settled his fate and that of his allies. However, the conference was delayed and then cancelled outright, possibly because of a breakdown in negotiations between Mugabe and the military.
For most of the morning, state-controlled television and radio stations simply rebroadcast Moyo's statement without further news updates, and played patriotic songs from the 1980s about independence alongside normal programming. State-owned newspaper The Herald ran headlines downplaying the military's actions and its website ran a live blog under the headline "Live and developing: No Military Takeover in Zim".
By the afternoon, the roadblocks around key government buildings in Harare had been removed, armoured vehicles were off the streets, and there was no longer extra security in the Borrowdale suburb, where most senior officials had their private homes. Although there was less overall traffic in the city, ordinary activities like school, administrative offices, and businesses returned to normal. Outside Harare, including Bulawayo, the country's second-largest city, Zimbabweans experienced little to no added military presence.
The same day, ZBC broadcast an apology from ZANU–PF youth wing leader Kudzai Chipanga to General Chiwenga, whom he had criticised the day before. Chipanga said that he made his statement voluntarily and that he and other members of the youth league "are still young and make mistakes".
Morgan Tsvangirai, the former prime minister and leader of the main opposition party Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai, who had won 42% of the popular vote against Mugabe's 56.2% in the 2002 presidential election, returned from receiving cancer treatments abroad. Soon after his return to the country, Tsvangirai called for Mugabe to step down.
16 November
ZANU–PF MP and government minister Paul Chimedza was arrested at an army roadblock in Bubi while attempting to flee to South Africa. In Harare, armoured vehicles remained at key locations.
17 November
Mugabe presided at a graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University.
18 November
There were well-attended and exuberant but peaceful public demonstrations in Harare and in all major towns in the country, supporting the actions of the army and celebrating the apparent end of Mugabe's presidency. Demonstrators also massed outside his office calling on him to quit. Protesters booed and jeered a motorcade that left Mugabe's residence, although a security source stated that Mugabe was not travelling.