HARARE – Rumours that a military coup was in progress spread throughout Zimbabwe on Wednesday after two columns of army vehicles were seen on the streets of Harare, but a government spokesman insisted the movement was part of planned “drills.”
“There is a scheduled exercise to test equipment which is taking place today. Nothing to be concerned about,” government spokesman Ndavaningi Mangwana wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba said the Zimbabwe Defence Forces were “going through the routine of ensuring all their battle systems are in tip-top state keeping you secure and defended.”
Twenty-one military vehicles, mainly multi-purpose armoured cars and tanks, motored on Borrowdale Road through the plush neighbourhood which is home to Zimbabwe’s rich and famous, startling motorists who posted videos online.
The military vehicles and gear was coming from 2 Infantry Brigade, formerly Cranborne Barracks, and bound for Alfida Barracks in Domboshava, home to the 2 Field Regiment.
Coming amid heightened tensions over a push by some in Zanu PF to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s stay in power beyond 2028 when his second and final term is due to run out, the movement of the vehicles reminded many of the 2017 military coup that ousted former president Robert Mugabe in 2017.
The man who led that coup is retired general Constantino Chiwenga, now one of Mnangagwa’s two deputies who reportedly still commands loyalty within the military.
Before 2017, a coup was unthinkable in Zimbabwe, but it is now a possibility openly spoken about amid rising tensions between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga.
Mnangagwa reportedly held a meeting with military chiefs on Sunday after returning from Ethiopia for an African Union summit, where he was told that the push to abolish term limits being championed by his loyalists was now a “national security threat.”
The security chiefs also warned against Mnangagwa’s supporters goading Chiwenga and soldiers as witnessed recently at the National Heroes Acre. Mnangagwa addressed selected journalists on Monday, disavowing the Chiwenga critics and pledging to step down when his term ends in 2028.
The warning by security chiefs came, accordingly to sources, in anticipation of similar antics at the National Youth Day event at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo on Friday.
One military source said contrary to the official line that the movement of the military vehicles was long planned, Chiwenga’s military allies were in fact sending a message to Mnangagwa and his loyalists – toe the line or face confrontation.
Mnangagwa is a wily old fox who learned lessons from Mugabe’s 2017 ouster and is unlikely to be easily pushed without a fight, but even he would have been alarmed by the commentary accompanying viral videos of the army’s movement on Harare’s streets.
“Maybe the country is about to get freedom,” a male voice said in one video, watching a tank roll past from the window of what appeared to be a multi-story building.
