Robert Mugabe's decline and fall, when it finally came, was stunning in its swiftness
For 37 years he had been the undisputed ruler of Zimbabwe. And then, on Wednesday Nov 15,2017, he was abruptly confined to his home, under military guard, his era almost certainly over
The power of the Zimbabwean President, according to most assumptions, had been total and complete. Yet, in the end, his authority crumbled like a house of cards. His supporters abandoned him. He remained the President, but in name only
There were still questions in Zimbabwe on Wednesday, but they were mere details. It was unclear whether Mr. Mugabe would remain as a figurehead in Zimbabwe, or whether he and his family would seek refuge in a foreign country, perhaps Singapore or Malaysia where he has spent many months for medical treatment in recent years
The military takeover was astonishingly smooth and almost entirely bloodless. A few gunshots, a couple of explosions, a few arrests, and the Mugabe faction within the ruling party was essentially finished. It didn't mean a victory by the opposition parties – since power is still controlled by authoritarian military officers – but there was at least a possibility that Zimbabwe's government could move into the modern age
The Zimbabwean military needed only a few armoured vehicles to secure the streets of the capital, Harare, because there were no crowds of Mugabe loyalists to suppress. Instead, there was a mood of guarded optimism on Wednesday, a rare sense of hope among most Zimbabweans. After years of economic disaster and impoverishment, even a military takeover was seen as a potential boon.
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