Robert Mugabe may have been deposed after 37 years, but Zimbaweans in the capital could be forgiven for not noticing

Thirty-seven years after he took control of his country, Robert Mugabe’s dethroning was so abrupt that many Zimbabweans did not realise their country had been transformed overnight.

Samaz, a roadside fruit and vegetable seller who gave only his first name, said the first signs of change were the roadblocks set up central Harare and manned by twitchy soldiers.

Mugabe in detention after military takes control of Zimbabwe Read more

“Although a little bit scary, I think this is good for us. It has been a long time,” he said, adding that he hoped the army’s move would improve the struggling economy. “My beard is grey and I am still working in the street.”

There were brief exchanges of gunfire and explosions were reported overnight, and some civilians were beaten up by police. But the only damage reported from the dramatic power struggle was to the gate of a minister’s home, after his guards put up a brief defence. Any injuries were treated in private.

The Harare snatched from Mugabe’s control on Wednesday looked very much as it had the previous day, but with an unfamiliar sense of exhilaration in the air for the many who opposed their president or were weary of his decades-long rule.



“People are excited because they are ready for change,” said one official who asked not to be named. Mugabe is the only leader Zimbabwe has had since independence in 1980, and a fast-growing population means more than half its citizens were born under his rule.

The apparently bloodless seizure of power, the army’s insistence that it was engaged in a course-correction of democracy rather than a coup, and the almost immediate return to something like routine all helped to allay the fears that a military intervention would normally stir up.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest An armoured personnel carrier patrols the streets of Harare after the army takeover of the capital. Photograph: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images

“I don’t think things will get violent because they are doing this for the people. If they start shedding blood they can’t do that any more,” said the official. “That is why they told people to stay away from centre of town unless they have business, so troublemakers cannot stir things up.”



There were traffic blocks and a few armoured personnel carriers around one block of key government buildings in the heart of town, and traffic was a little lighter than usual, but there was little else to indicate a moment of historic change.



Schools opened for classes, people queued for driving licenses and most of the country went to work as usual. “I am doing business, and these politicians are doing their business,” said one Zimbabwean from the mining sector, heading off on a planned trip to a concession.

By midday even the roadblocks had gone, the armoured personnel carriers that announced the start of military action were back in their barracks, and in the upmarket suburb of Borrowdale – where Mugabe and many of his closest allies have their private homes – there was no extra security visible.

Play Video 2:32 Mugabe is 'safe and sound' Zimbabwe's army says – video

“I don’t know what I expected but I never thought the end would be so surreal. It is almost like a dream,” the writer and activist Grace Mutandwa marvelled on Twitter.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A special edition of the Zimbabwean paper NewsDay. Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/EPA

Beyond Harare, the coup seemed even more illusory. “Bulawayo is another country from Harare,” said one technician in Zimbabwe’s second city. “Everything is normal here.”

State radio and TV channels under military control projected an image of studied normality while officers hammered out the country’s future. The programming could have come straight from a coup-planner’s handbook: upbeat but bland, and empty of any real information that Zimbabweans nervous about their country’s future might be hoping to seek out.

On one radio station, the coup got just over two minutes of coverage in the midday “in depth” news bulletin, dedicated to how normally the day was playing out nationwide, before the presenter turned to foreign affairs.

As rumours, fears, worries and memes ricocheted around social media, the lack of real information stirred up trepidation even among those keen to see the president leave office.



Timeline Zimbabwe timeline: the week that led to Mugabe's detention Show Hide Mugabe fires vice president Robert Mugabe fires his powerful vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, clearing the way for his wife, Grace, to succeed him as leader of Zimbabwe. Grace had accused 75-year-old Mnangagwa, a former intelligence chief, of being the “root cause of factionalism” in the ruling Zanu-PF party. Mnangagwa defiant Mnangagwa reportedly flees to South Africa, but vows to return to Zimbabwe to lead party members. The party "is not personal property for you and your wife to do as you please," Mnangagwa tells Mugabe in an angry five-page statement. Army chief issues warning Zimbabwe’s army chief demands a halt to the purge in Zanu-PF, and warns that the military could intervene. “We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,” General Constantino Chiwenga told a media conference attended by about 90 senior army officers. Army denies coup A convoy of tanks is seen moving on the outskirts of the Zimbabwean capital but the military denies a coup. In an overnight declaration on state television, they say Mugabe is safe and they are "only targeting criminals around him". Mugabe detained Military vehicles take control of the streets of Harare in the early hours. South Africa says Mugabe has told its president, Jacob Zuma, by telephone that he is under house arrest but is "fine".

The army had promised a press conference on Wednesday morning, when officers were expected to unveil a deal with the president, settling his fate and that of some allies. It would have limited the military intervention to barely 12 hours. But the event was postponed and then cancelled, amid rumours of huge gaps between the military’s demands and what Mugabe would concede.



The longer the military remain in control without spelling out their plans, the greater the risk that generals will be unwilling or unable to disentangle themselves from power.



“The darkest hour is just before the dawn,” said one senior opposition politician, expressing the hope of many Zimbabweans that if the military intervention had really been planned as a precursor to major change, the generals would hand the country back to civilian leaders shortly.

Naison, a 76-year-old farmer in the Midlands province, said few in his village objected to the removal of Mugabe, though many questioned whether real change would ensue, given that the military had taken action in support of the ousted vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, a stalwart of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

“Generally there is a bit of mixed reaction, some think its so good, as they are hoping for something new. Others say we have to wait to see what’s happening, and anyway its going to be another wing of Zanu-PF,” Naison said by phone.



“The way things have been going it has been so bad. But it’s too early to say what will happen next. We will only be able to make a judgment when we know the outcome.”

