A group of soldiers was in custody in Zimbabwe on charges of plotting to oust President Robert Mugabe and replace him with a Cabinet minister, a newspaper report claimed on Friday.
In sensational revelations, the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper said it had obtained court papers containing the allegations.
The paper claims that six men, including a former army officer and at least two serving soldiers, were currently in custody, some of them since late May. They are being charged with treason, the Independent said.
The men are accused of plotting to overthrow the long-time Zimbabwean leader — whose popularity many believe may be finally on the wane — and replace him with Rural Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, once a favourite of Mugabe.
The Independent says a former army officer spilled the beans on the alleged coup because he feared it would plunge Zimbabwe into chaos.
The army officer travelled to the Zimbabwean embassy in Paris to alert the authorities of the plot, providing them with a map and a list of those involved, the paper alleges.
Mnangagwa, who was shocked in 2004 to be pipped to the post of vice-president by former army commander’s wife Joyce Mujuru, told the Independent he knew nothing about that.
”That is stupid. I don’t know anything about that. I’m reading about it in the paper but there’s nothing like that,” he was quoted as saying.
There has been no official comment on the coup-plot allegations, which were also carried in a London-based weekly. The State Security Minister, Didymus Mutasa, has said he knows nothing about it.
But an activist from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Gilbert Kagodora, says he was seized by police in Harare as he spoke to a retired army officer.
Kagodora says he was held from May 29 to June 4, when he was beaten and accused of plotting to topple Mugabe’s government by June 2.
Discontent is rising rapidly in Zimbabwe, where record inflation of more than 3 700% and deepening levels of poverty are making life unbearable for millions.
Unconfirmed reports say soldiers’ anger at meagre pay packets has been rising too.
‘Oblivious and blind’
Meanwhile, it was reported this week that country’s main opposition leader said the Zimbabwe government’s plan to change the Constitution ahead of 2008 elections undermines efforts to broker an end to political turmoil in the nation.
Mugabe’s government has proposed a Bill that would pave the way for joint presidential and parliamentary polls next year and amend the rules for electing a new president should the post become vacant before an election.
The Bill is expected to be debated in Parliament in July.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the amendments were ”pre-emptive and contemptuous” of South African President Thabo Mbeki’s bid to bring the MDC and the ruling Zanu-PF to the bargaining table.
Mbeki took on the mediation role in March at the request of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which met at a summit to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe.
”The message that Zanu-PF is sending out is loud and clear. It is oblivious and blind to the SADC negotiations,” Tsvangirai told journalists in the capital, Harare. He noted that the MDC and the ruling party had not agreed on an agenda for the talks. — Sapa-dpa, Reuters