Zimbabwe’s former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, will return home on Wednesday, a ruling party ZANU-PF official said.
Mnangagwa is expected to be sworn in as president following the resignation of Mugabe on Tuesday.
An ally of the former vice president, Larry Mavhima told Reuters that Mnangagwa was expected to land in Zimbabwe at 1130 GMT.
Mnangagwa’s sacking this month prompted the military takeover forcing Mugabe out.
The 75-year-old who fled from Zimbabwe in fear of his safety after being sacked could be sworn in as president later on Wednesday or on Thursday and is likely to lead ZANU-PF into elections next year.
Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe’s president on Tuesday, a week after the army and his former political allies moved to end four decades of rule by a man once feted as an independence hero who became feared as a despot.
The 93-year-old Mugabe resigned moments after parliament began an impeachment process seen as the only legal way to force him out.
People danced in the streets of Harare and car horns blared at the news that the era of Mugabe – who had led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 – was finally over.
Moment of jubilation from gallery as HouseSpeaker reads out #Mugabe Resignation letter pic.twitter.com/haReOI5L5q
— AudreyTendai (@AudreyChimwanda) November 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/WellenceMujuru/status/933224666235207680
https://twitter.com/ohannah69/status/933051722183962625
Video: Incredible scenes outside #Zimbabwe Parliament as crowd hears #Mugabe has gone. pic.twitter.com/5KpfLJTpZd
— Richard Gaisford (@richardgaisford) November 21, 2017
