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Zimbabwe’s ruling party close to ousting Mugabe

Leaders of Zimbabwe’s ruling political party are moving to oust longtime president Robert Mugabe, news reports said Saturday.

At a meeting planned for Sunday, the central committee of the ZANU-PF party will also dismiss Grace Mugabe, who has been her husband’s preferred successor, the reports said.

“We are just going to properly send the old man away,” said Tshinga Dube, a former Mugabe cabinet minister who was accused of plotting against him three years ago.

Mugabe’s 37-year rule effectively ended Wednesday when the nation’s army confined him to his residence. The army said it was targeting the “criminals” surrounding him.

The army has denied it is carrying out a coup — but it’s clear Mugabe’s power is greatly diminished.

Provincial branches of the ZANU-PF party on Friday passed no-confidence votes against the 93-year-old president.

If party leaders’ actions don’t persuade Mugabe to resign, he could be impeached by the nation’s parliament when it reconvenes on Tuesday.

Also Sunday, Mugabe is to meet with the military leaders who seek to oust him.

Tens of thousands of jubilant Zimbabweans rallied Saturday to celebrate Mugabe’s imminent departure.

“We are at the dawn of a new era,” Patrick Chinamasa, who Mugabe fired as finance minister last month, told a crowd in Highlands township.

Mugabe “should resign forthwith. The criminals who surround him must be arrested and thrown in jail,” Chinamasa said.

“This is it, he must go,” said Ronald Mupfumi, a 29-year-old unemployed graduate who joined a throng in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. “These guys made us suffer for a long time.”

Army soldiers stand guard as protesters demanding Mugabe stand down gather on Nov. 18, 2017.AP

Zimbabwe was once one of Africa’s most prosperous countries. But under Mugabe’s watch, the economy has imploded, leaving 95 percent of the workforce unemployed, according to Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions estimates.

Mugabe’s exit will enable the military to install a transitional government to hold power until elections can be held.

Zimbabwe’s political turmoil leaves unclear the fate of a New Jersey woman fighting charges of insulting Mugabe on Twitter.

Martha O’Donovan, 25, was charged earlier this month with referring to Mugabe as “a selfish man and a sick man.”

The Oct.11 tweet included an illustration of a man using a catheter and a photo of Mugabe with a circle drawn around his stomach.

O’Donovan was jailed for a week before she was granted bail Nov. 9. Her next court hearing is Nov. 30, according to her lawyer. O’Donovan faces the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

O’Donovan, a Fullbright scholar and former NYU student, was working at a satirical television network and managed a local cocktail bar in Harare.

Her colleagues at the Magamba Network started a #freemartha campaign, and the State Department is involved in her case, a federal official told The Post.

With Post Wires