Zimbabwe's government dismisses 'coup' rumours
Zimbabwe's top security officials on Wednesday made a surprise dismissal of "rumours" of an imminent coup, two years after veteran leader Robert Mugabe was ousted in a military-backed takeover.
A special national security working council which includes military and police chiefs, blamed opposition politicians, former ruling Zanu-PF party members, the media, Western diplomats, religious leaders and civil society organisations for peddling the "rumours".
"The government of Zimbabwe has noted with grave concern a recent upsurge in rumours suggesting an imminent military coup d'etat in the country," the team said in a statement read by Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe.
The government "would like ... to unequivocally debunk and dismiss these rumours with the contempt they deserve".
"There is no coup in the making," said Kazembe, flanked by the military commander Philip Sibanda and the police chief Godwin Matanga.
Late leader Mugabe resigned as head of state in November 2017 following a military-led coup after tanks rolled onto the streets of the capital.
Three days later Emmerson Mnangagwa, one of his vice presidents, was sworn-in as president.
The security team said Mnangagwa was working "collegially (and) in absolute harmony with these two vice presidents and the entire cabinet".
The statement came just hours after Mnangagwa addressed his Zanu-PF party's politburo in Harare where he blamed rivals for the recent sharp increases in prices of basic commodities.
The annual inflation rate in April stood at 765.57 per cent, according to the official statistics agency.
"We are witnessing a relentless attack on our currency and the economy in general through exorbitant pricing models by the private sector," he said.
"We are fully cognisant that this is a battle being fuelled by our political detractors, elite opportunists and malcontents who are bent on pushing a nefarious agenda they will never win."
The national security council said the rumours of a coup plot were part of a plan aimed at tainting "the image of the president, undermine the legitimacy of government and to render the country ungovernable".
It warned that the government will do everything in its power to expose and bring to "book these undemocratic subversive forces which we have perhaps for too long allowed to fester and operate freely in our midst as legitimate opposition".