Last week a coup took place in Zimbabwe. After the turn of events, the nation is asking for President Mugabe to resign from his position and let a new leader take over.

President Robert Mugabe has been president for almost 40 years, and in politics for most of his life. But as Mugabe gets older, the people of Zimbabwe are looking for a change.

There have been many situations against Mugabe in the past couple of weeks leading to the public’s distrust. Mugabe was leader when Zimbabwe entered a deep recession in the early 2000’s that the economy is still recovering from. In the past weeks, Mugabe has also been dealing with nepotism attacks.

Grace Mugabe, the president’s wife, has been dealing with attacks from the people as well. Mr. Mugabe is accused of letting his wife “usurp power”. The wife’s president has no place in the Zimbabwean government without a political title. Grace ran against Emmerson Mnangagwa for the position of vice president, which Mnangagwa was recently fired from. President Mugabe favored his wife in the rivalry, creating distrust in the government.

Grace Mugabe has been at the heart of many scandals in Zimbabwe. The people of Zimbabwe dislike her for her lavish lifestyle and her various attacks on press and education. Grace Mugabe is an unpopular figure, and the people have had years to form this belief. Mrs. Mugabe received a doctoral degree from the University of Zimbabwe two weeks into the program, has been accused of assaulting photographers and Gabriella Engels, a Zimbabwean model. Lastly, while the country was in a depression, “Gucci Grace” would spend thousands on a shopping spree, which turned into a daily occurrences.

Many believe the Mugabe family has been in power for far too long, a belief held by a majority of Zimbabwe. The coup was to enact change, and change they will receive. The charges against Mugabe are long, however, “The main charge is that he has allowed his wife to usurp constitutional power when she has no right to run government. But she is insulting civil servants, the vice president, at public rallies. They are denigrating the army – those are the charges,” said Paul Mangwana, a Zimbabwean politician.  According to the Zimbabwean constitution, impeachment is allowed when “serious misconduct”, violating the constitution or “failure to obey, uphold or defend” occurs.

Mnangagwa fled Zimbabwe when a plot to kill him was released. Since then his luck is looking up.

Mnangagwa was titled the new president of Zimbabwe on November 24, 2017. The former Vice President has promised to “re-engagement with all the nations of the world” and for many Zimbabweans it is refreshing new leader. Mnangagwa has promised to edit some of Mugabe’s laws, including the land reform acts. Although the laws will not be released, they will be majorly edited to compensate the taken land.

As election excitement settles, there are still concerns on the coup that occurred. The army and police will work together to restore normalcy. Charity Charamba said in a press conference, “you will soon notice the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and Zimbabwe Republic Police members conducting joint patrols, especially in the Harare central business district”. Overson Mugwisi, another spokesperson, said, “this behavior is criminal and against the spirit of non-vengeful retribution, and will be met with the full wrath of the law”.

The past month has been chaotic in Zimbabwe, however, with a new leader and the army and police working together, there seems to be a return to normal behavior in the nation.