Battling a yearslong economic crisis and persistent accusations of corruption, Zimbabwe’s president faces the greatest threat to his power since taking office in a coup nearly eight years ago, with members of his own party calling for mass demonstrations in the streets on Monday to unseat him.
The president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has vowed to crack down on dissent, saying in a speech at a meeting of his party, ZANU-PF, that calls for him to step down were a “treasonous” plot driven by “chameleon-like characters.”
The tensions over the president’s future have pushed this southern African nation, which has suffered decades of political and economic instability, to the brink of yet another crisis, with many anxious residents bracing for potential violence.
Over the past two decades, persistent hyperinflation in Zimbabwe has left the country struggling to keep a currency worth the paper it’s printed on, fueling acute poverty. The Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce estimates that 80 percent of jobs in the country are in the informal sector, with low pay and little security.
Accusations of gross rights abuses, political repression, dubious elections and corruption have tarnished Zimbabwe’s international standing. The United States has imposed sanctions on members of the country’s ruling elite, including Mr. Mnangagwa.
Mr. Mnangagwa, 82, promised democratic and economic reforms when he helped to overthrow Robert Mugabe, an autocrat in power for 37 years, in 2017. Instead, he has failed to harness the country’s wealth of critical minerals — among the richest in Africa — into an economic boom.
He also fired Zimbabwe’s army chief, Anselem Sanyatwe, ahead of the planned nationwide protests. The shake-up follows the removal of the chief of police and head of Zimbabwe’s intelligence service — moves that political analysts widely view as an effort to protect Mr. Mnangagwa against a military takeover.
Zimbabweans — who have fled the country by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, over the past two decades — continue to leave in droves, fomenting animosity among neighboring countries feeling the strain of growing migrant populations.
“Zimbabwe is saying Mugabe was better — that is how bad the situation is,” said Ntokozo Msipha, a ZANU-PF member who is helping to organize the protests against Mr. Mnangagwa. “We should have done this earlier.”
Those leading the charge against Mr. Mnangagwa accuse him of attempting to extend his rule beyond the end of his second term in 2028, despite his public assurances that he will step down as mandated in the country’s Constitution. His opponents say he previously promised to hand over power to his vice president, Constantino Chiwenga.
Earlier this year, the governing party said it would amend the Constitution so Mr. Mnangagwa could run for a third term in the 2028 elections.
Mr. Chiwenga, a decorated army general, was an architect of the coup that toppled Mr. Mugabe. He is now the man whom Mr. Mnangagwa’s opponents want to replace him. He has not publicly commented on the upheaval caused by ZANU-PF allies who say that he should be the next president.
The effort to oust Mr. Mnangagwa has been led by Blessed Geza, a liberation war veteran and former senior ZANU-PF member. Mr. Geza went into hiding this month after party officials accused him of treason for publicly suggesting that the president had used his power to allow family members to enrich themselves.
In a news conference last week, Mr. Geza called on the president “to go or face being removed.”
Tafadzwa Mugwadi, a ZANU-PF member of Parliament, dismissed Mr. Geza and his faction of disgruntled war veterans within the party as having no credibility.
“I have no record of any internal factional fights,” Mr. Mugwadi said. “I don’t understand his authority.”
Even as his supporters brush off critics, Mr. Mnangagwa seemed to be leaving nothing to chance.
The police presence was heavy across the capital, Harare, on Friday last week. Officers clutching batons roamed Africa Unity Square Park, a well-known protest site, as people ate food on the lawn and lounged on benches.
At a roadblock in Mabvuku, just outside Harare, the police searched vehicles, telling motorists that they were looking for weapons and acting on the government’s instructions to prevent violent protesters.
After getting his car searched, Gilbert Tapfumaneyi said he would return to town on Monday without his vehicle to join the protests. Mr. Tapfumaneyi, a car salesman, said he did not make enough money to buy gas.
“We have suffered enough,” he said.
While some workers in central Harare said they would stay away on Monday out of fear of violence breaking out, others said that they had little choice but to try to go to work.
“I have mouths to feed back home,” said Belinda Chisewu, a roadside vendor selling cellphone credit, adding that she had three children, “meaning trouble at home if I don’t endure working.”
The ZANU-PF infighting fueling the tensions may have less to do with the challenges faced by ordinary citizens and more to do with a battle over state power and resources, political analysts said.
Rashweat Mukundu, a Zimbabwe-based media researcher and rights activist, said the divisions within the party were comparable to what happened in the Mugabe era.
“What we are seeing is a similar pattern of the ruling party failing to manage its transition,” he said. “An incumbent perhaps wanting to be an imperial president and stay in power until death and that always agitates those who have political aspirations.”
