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Mugabe has been confined to his home - Zuma

Johannesburg - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is confined to his home in Harare but is otherwise fine, said President Jacob Zuma

Zuma, who is also chairperson of the Southern African Development Community, spoke to Mugabe earlier on Wednesday after the country’s armed forces seized power in a move it says is needed to stave off a violent conflict.

Zuma’s government is also in contact with the Zimbabwean Defence Force, South Africa’s presidency said in an emailed statement. The South African leader is sending a special envoy to Zimbabwe in light of the unfolding situation, he said.

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces have said they will guarantee the safety of Mugabe, 93, as well as his family, and is only “targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice.”

Zuma is also sending South Africa’s Minister of Defence & Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Minister of State Security Bongani Bongo to Zimbabwe to meet Mugabe and the military, according to the statement.

CHART: Mugabe, second-longest serving African head, risks being ousted

Mugabe, who at age 93 is the world’s oldest-serving leader, risks being forced from office after the military seized control of the southern African nation.

Mugabe’s tenure as president spans 37 consecutive years, the second-longest after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who took power eight months before him.

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WATCH: Alex Magaisa, law professor at University of Kent, discusses the actions of Constantine Chiwenga, pictured here.

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