Harare - Impeachment proceedings were launched yesterday against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe by the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), writes Andrew Meldrum.
The mood was electric in the packed parliament when MDC vice-president, Mr Gibson Sibanda, delivered the articles of impeachment, including the signatures of more than one-third the members of parliament, to the Speaker of the House, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa.
A tumultuous uproar erupted with the 57 MDC members exclaiming, "Yes, yes, today is the day" and the 92 Zanu-PF members shouting "Shame. This is nonsense. A waste of time."
The impeachment move, although it has scant chance of garnering the two-thirds majority needed to succeed, will further erode the authority of Mr Mugabe.