Untouchable for decades, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is out. Who’s next?

AFRICA

BY KRISTA MAHR

@kristamahr

BYE, BOB After 37 years in power, Mugabe was pushed out by his military and members of his ruling party in November. Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is part of the same party machinery.

JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP/GETTY

IN JANUARY 2016, ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe gave a speech at the African Union in Ethiopia. As he railed against Western meddling in African affairs, the delegates repeatedly burst into applause for the 91-year-old leader, as his audiences have for decades. “They are everywhere in Africa—if not physically, through [nongovernmental organizations], through spies, through pretenders who come to us and say they are here in Africa to assist us”, Mugabe said. “Africans shall no longer tolerate a position of slavery.” At the end of the speech, the elderly elder statesman received a standing ovation.