- Staff Notice
Last month, the rumblings started with this:
Zimbabwe's First Lady Grace Mugabe has warned of a possible coup plot amid growing tensions in the fight to succeed her husband.
She says allies of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa are threatening the lives of those who don't support him to replace President Robert Mugabe, 93.
Mrs Mugabe herself and Mr Mnangagwa are the front-runners and their rivalry has split the governing Zanu-PF.
Then, a few days ago this:
Zimbabwe's army chief has warned those responsible for "purging" the country's ruling Zanu-PF party to stop, or the military will step in.
The rare intervention comes just a week after President Robert Mugabe sacked his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mr Mugabe sacked Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week, amid a row over succession.
And now this:
Soldiers are reported to have taken over the headquarters of Zimbabwe's national broadcaster, ZBC, amid a growing political crisis.
Explosions have also been reported in the capital, Harare, but the cause is unclear.
Earlier, the country's ambassador in South Africa denied talk of a coup.
Normally, recent stories that have come out of Zimbabwe have concerned Robert Mugabe's main rival, Morgan Tsvangira who is the leader of MDC, the main political rival to Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. The two signed a uneasy agreement in 2008 and Tsvangira became prime minster while Mugabe retained the real power, especially that of control of the military. It didn't last and the last rigged election saw Mugabe take full control again.
Back to the present day and the elderly Mugabe wants his wife to take over from him. A a week ago he sacked his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa, signalling to everyone else that Zimbabwe is his family's personal fiefdom, but clearly the military see it differently.
The generals are from Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and have been happy with the one-party rule of Zimbabwe by Zunu-PF since 1980, but they now think that Zimbabwe is a becoming a one person state instead. What took them so long?
At the time of writing, the military have taken over Zimbabwe's main broadcaster, but no move has been made on Robert Mugabe yet.
Is this the end of Robert Mugabe's hold on Zimbabwe? What is the country's future, another military dictatorship or democracy? As if Africa needs another military dictatorship.