Zimbabwe’s parliament has begun impeachment proceedings against Robert Mugabe as it attempts to strip him of the presidency after 37 years in power.

Shortly before legislators met, the man expected to succeed him broke more than a week of silence to add his voice to those calling for the ageing leader to step down. Emmerson Mnangagwa, until recently Mugabe’s vice-president and right hand man, urged the nonagenarian leader to “accept the will of the people”.

Thousands of Zimbabweans turned up outside parliament to urge on MPs, chanting, dancing and waving placards in Africa Unity square. “Mugabe: today is the first day of the rest of your life,” read one. “MPs: You are our salvation,” said another.

“We want the guy to go home and rest. We will be very angry if he does not get impeached. Mugabe cannot be part of any solution here,” said Earl Ndawana, a 37 year old graphic designer who had taken a day off from work to attend the rally.”

He said that even at 75, Mnangagwa would be a welcome change from 93 year-old Mugabe. “He is young and energetic, at least compared to what we had.”

The ruling Zanu-PF party, which at the weekend voted to make Mnangagwa its leader and demote Mugabe to a rank-and-file member, introduced the motion to impeach and the opposition seconded it.

Parliament and senate then adjourned to a special session in a nearby conference centre, because both houses must meet together to remove a president from office and there is no chamber big enough in their usual base.

When they moved between the two, the carnival of protestors followed, celebrating the coming downfall of a man who just a week ago seemed to wield absolute power, but now has party and government lined up against him.

Mugabe has refused to resign six days after military seized power, but in the latest blow to his efforts to cling on to power, just a handful of ministers turned up for a cabinet meeting he called for Tuesday morning. Almost all his cabinet are also senior party members, and were ordered to stay away.

“There are some sad moments given what the old man has done to transform the lives of the people of Zimbabwe but he should rest now,” said David Chapfika, Zanu-PF MP for Mutombo South.

Members of Parliament gather to begin proceedings to impeach Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in Harare Photograph: POOL/Reuters

It was a line that matched the case for impeachment against Mugabe, which looks set to focus heavily on his age and the machinations of his wife Grace -- for “usurping constitutional power”, leaving a man who is still respected as a hero of the liberation struggle against colonial rule as much dignity as possible.

Zimbabwe’s political and military establishment appears wary of formally forcing Mugabe from office at the barrel of a gun, even after the military effectively took over the country, because of the censure and sanctions a coup can trigger.

The focus now is on attempts to remove him from power in a constitutional fashion, with the support of regional powers. Botswana’s president Ian Khama took to Twitter to issue an unconventional appeal to Mugabe to step down.

“The people of Zimbabwe have for a long time been subjected to untold suffering as a result of poor governance under your leadership,” wrote Khama, whose own father Seretse Khama was a contemporary of Mugabe’s, and hero of the region’s struggle for independence for colonial rule.

“I therefore reiterate my appeal to you to honourably step aside, if you really care for them, as you profess, and if you cannot find it in you to do so.”

On Wednesday Zimbabwe is also expecting a delegation from the regional South African Development

Mnangagwa also said he backed impeachment as an “ultimate expression of the will of the people outside an election.”

He fled into exile earlier this month after being ousted from his position in government and Zanu-PF by a faction allied to Grace Mugabe and warned of plans to “eliminate me”. His supporters are widely believed to be behind the coup.



People gather at a opposition party rally outside the state parliament in preparation of the proposed impeachment of president Robert Mugabe Photograph: Kim Ludbrook/EPA

He had spoken to Mugabe on the phone, and told him he needed to step down after huge demonstrations in Harare on Saturday and the party vote to remove him showed he no longer had a popular mandate. “He must now accept the will of the people and resign,” the statement said.

Mnangagwa has been absent since the military takeover. In the written statement, which still gave no clue to his whereabouts.

But in a sign that Zimbabwe’s political turmoil is far from settled and despite the many headlines hailing the end of Mugabe’s rule, Mnangagwa signalled that he would not yet be returning to Zimbabwe. “I will be returning home as soon as the right conditions for security and stability prevail,” he said.

He also made what appeared to be an appeal to opposition politicians and their supporters, laying out his vision for a “new Zimbabwe” he said was a national, not party political, project. “In that new Zimbabwe it is important for everyone to join hands so that we rebuild this nation to its full glory, this is not a job for Zanu-PF alone but for all people of Zimbabwe,” the statement said.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addressed the nation on television in Harare on Sunday Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Mnangagwa may need that support in parliament. Zanu-PF has a majority it barely reaches the two-thirds majority needed to push the impeachment motion through, and some of its MPs have vanished or been arrested in the wake of the coup.

Mugabe stunned the southern African country by failing to resign as expected in a televised speech on Sunday night. Instead, his rambling address offered no substantial concessions to the tens of thousands of people who have marched calling for his resignation, though it did exonerate the army commanders who led the military takeover last week.

It is unclear how long the procedure to impeach the president might take but it is likely to last several days. If it is passed, Mugabe, who as president is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, would then be reduced to the status of any other citizen.

Grace Mugabe, 52, has not been seen since the takeover. Sources told the Guardian she was in her husband’s Harare residence when he was detained on Tuesday and had not moved since.