THERE is “massive potential for violence” if Robert Mugabe’s former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa takes control of the country, an expert claims.

Earlier this year Dr Hazel Cameron of St Andrews University published a landmark study into the horrors of Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s, which were carried out by Mugabe’s army on the Ndebele people.

Victims were burned alive, mass rapes were carried out and forced starvation was also used, with Cameron’s work proving that the UK Government knew the full extent of the state-sanctioned atrocities but took part in a “conspiracy of silence”.

Mnangagwa is said to have orchestrated the attacks and, with the former vice-president expected to step into the leadership role, Cameron warns the change may spark fresh anger among the communities that suffered.

Yesterday Mugabe met a South African delegation for crunch talks also involving the military about his future. No details about the talks were released, but state-run media issued an image of Mugabe and General Constantino Chiwenga, who is leading the military takeover which began on Tuesday.

More than 100 groups from civil society have signed a joint statement asking the 93-year-old to leave office after almost 40 years.

No trouble has been reported in Zimbabwe, where there is said to be a mood of excitement at the prospect that another member of Mugabe’s Zanu PF party will now take charge.

However, Cameron cautioned that Mnangagwa’s track record makes him “as much of a despot as Mugabe”. She told The National: “He was the architect of Gukurahundi, he is accused of election rigging and corruption, he has been implicated in looting diamonds in the Congo. For the past three years Britain has had a new policy of re-engagement with Zimbabwe. Emmerson Mnangagwa has been central to that.

“It’s now quite clear he is going to end up leading a transition government. He has worked side-by-side with Mugabe for the last 27 years. It is clear he is as much of a dictator as Mugabe.”

On tensions among the Ndebele people, she said the stakes for peace are high. Cameron – who is continuing her research into this subject and aims to publish new findings early next year – said: “People are armed, people will turn to violence if at this point of political transition they do not get an element of political truth and justice.

“There is massive potential for violence and mass atrocities.”

However, she went on: “It would be very easy to avoid. This coup is not about Zanu PF, it’s about a faction within Zanu PF. It would be very easy to negate conflict in the months to follow if the international governments and regional actors would get their heads together and say ‘we need to address the crimes of the past to prevent them intruding on the future’.”

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who shared power with Mugabe from 2009 to 2013, said his party would take part in talks if Mugabe steps aside.

The current crisis was triggered by the sacking of Mnangagwa, who had been long expected to by Mugabe’s successor, and concern that the president’s wife Grace Mugabe was to become the country’s leader instead.

Former vice-president Joice Mujuru, who was fired from office three years ago, says “free, fair and credible elections” are needed after the establishment of a transitional arrangement that includes representation from a range of communities.

Evan Mawarire, the pastor whose #ThisFlag social media campaign last year led to the largest anti-government protests in a decade, asked: “Should we just sit and wait or shall we at least be part of this transition process?”

Across the country, Zimbabweans were enjoying freedoms they have not had in years.

Soldiers manning the few checkpoints on roads leading into downtown Harare greeted motorists with a smile, searching cars without hostilities and wishing motorists a safe journey.