Zimbabwe's ruling party to launch parliamentary process on Tuesday for impeaching President Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party on Monday said it will launch the parliamentary process on Tuesday for impeaching President Robert Mugabe.

According to the information which was released by a government politician to AFP, the decision came after the 93-year-old president missed a deadline to resign given to him by his party over the weekend.

Once a simple majority of parliamentarians vote for impeachment, an investigative committee is formed by politicians, who report back to both houses of parliament. Each house must then vote by a two-thirds majority for him to be stripped of office.

We are expecting the motion to be over (Tuesday), said ZANU-PF politician Paul Mangwana, referring to the initial procedure to commence impeachment proceedings.

He added that ZANU-PF had approached the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party to seek their co-operation to pass the necessary parliamentary votes.

Robert Mugabe ignores party's deadline to quit

In a televised address late Sunday, Mugabe defied expectations he would quit, dragging the country into a second week of political crisis.

The speech provoked anger and disbelief among many Zimbabweans, fuelling concerns that Mugabe could face a violent backlash.

Zimbabwe’s crisis erupted on November 13 after a factional squabble over the presidential succession erupted into the open prompting the army to seize power.