Harare – State media in Zimbabwe on Sunday rounded on former president Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, suggesting in one editorial that the military operation that removed Mugabe from power be extended to his Harare mansion.

“How about Operation Restore Legacy at Blue Roof Mansion?,” said the headline on a column by Sunday Mail columnist, Bishop Lazarus.

‘Greedy and insecure’

In it the writer suggested that Mugabe had been “taken hostage in this rebellious house” and put “in a tight corner with the greedy and insecure former First Lady”.

The army denied its operation that put Emmerson Mnangagwa in power was a coup; instead officials said the move aimed at targeting target “criminals” around the president, a likely reference to Grace Mugabe and her allies.

‘Make the former president understand what’s going on’

In recent days Mugabe and his wife have been accused of backing a new political party led by former army officer and cabinet minister Ambrose Mutinhiri.

The Sunday Mail columnist said emissaries should be sent to Mugabe’s “Blue Roof” mansion “to make the former president understand what is going on. These people should make the former first lady understand the trouble she is putting herself into. All this is likely to end very, very bad for her.”

A cartoon in the same paper showed Mugabe staring out of a blank space with the word “mischief” written instead of a moustache.

No longer Comrade

State newspapers now only refer to Mugabe as “Mr”, stripping him of his decades-old title of “Comrade”.