JOHANNESBURG _ A military presence in parts of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, on Tuesday sparked fears that generals were carrying out their threat to intervene in the country's bitter succession crisis.
Tension spread as social media postings showed soldiers and several tanks on city streets. Several residents said they were concerned about what might happen next.
"We are wondering where this is all going. Whatever happens, we just hope that it will not affect us and our children," said Richard Mutedzi, 29, in central Harare.
With longtime President Robert Mugabe frail and weakened by poor health, Zimbabwe is mired in political turmoil and economic collapse. Military leaders led by the head of the armed forces, Gen. Constantino Chiwenga, issued a blunt warning Monday for Mugabe to end a purge of members of the ruling ZANU-PF party.
Mugabe, 93, last week sacked his presumed successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has close links to the influential military and security sector. The dismissal triggered unhappiness among many generals, but what outraged military leaders were the efforts of a faction of the ruling party allied with Mugabe's wife, Grace, to oust dozens of other people associated with Mnangagwa.
Chiwenga's statement appeared to be a thinly veiled warning that a powerful section of the security sector was unlikely to accept Grace Mugabe as vice president, should her husband appoint her to the post. She would be in a strong position to gain more power.
Chiwenga warned that the purge must stop or the military would be forced to intervene.
"The current purging, which is clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background, must stop forthwith," said Chiwenga, who made the comments at military headquarters alongside dozens of senior officers. "It is our strong and deeply considered position that if drastic action is not taken immediately, our beloved country Zimbabwe will definitely be headed to becoming a neo-colony again."
A ZANU-PF statement late Tuesday accused Chiwenga of treason and said his comments were designed to incite insurrection and a violent challenge to the government. The party suggested that Robert Mugabe was likely to dismiss Chiwenga, raising the stakes further.
Grace Mugabe and some allies, including government ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere, are seen as unacceptable to some sections of the military because, unlike Mnangagwa and Robert Mugabe, they played no part in the country's liberation war four decades ago to end white minority rule.
After Mugabe sacked him, Mnangagwa fled the country, saying his life had been repeatedly threatened. His dismissal came days after Grace Mugabe launched a fierce tirade against Mnangagwa at a church service, comparing him to a snake whose head must be crushed.
She was enraged after being booed earlier at a rally in the southern city of Bulawayo and blamed Mnangagwa for the incident.
Chiwenga's warning that the military may step in signaled a deepening struggle within Zimbabwe's organs of power in an authoritarian state: President Mugabe and the generals and so-called securocrats who have kept him in power for years.
Some observers considered the general's comments a warning of a possible coup. In addition to violating Zimbabwe's constitution, a coup would attract strong condemnation from the African Union and the regional leadership body, the Southern African Development Community.
Mugabe did not immediately appear in public to reassure Zimbabweans that he was still in charge.
Kudzanai Chipanga, the leader of the youth wing of ZANU-PF, however, warned the general to stay out of politics and said the youth wing was ready to die for Mugabe.
Piers Pigou, an analyst on Zimbabwe with the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies, said the confrontation between Mugabe and Chiwenga was an indicator of the country's fragility and instability as the succession crisis unfolds.
"It's a very direct challenge and does significantly up the ante now," Pigou said, referring to Chiwenga's statement. "How Mugabe reacts is now going to be pivotal."
Mugabe's move against Mnangagwa came three years after he sacked Vice President Joice Mujuru and threw dozens of her allies out of the ruling party.
Analyst and blogger Alex T. Magaisa wrote Monday that Mugabe's authority over the military had never been tested in this way.
"If he does nothing, it might be regarded as a sign of weakness," Magaisa wrote."If he puts his foot down, it could result in open confrontation."
Pigou said it would have been surprising if there had not been some military movement after Chiwenga's defiant statement, "either to shore up the protection of key institutions and the president himself or movement by elements that may want to be flexing their muscles."
