LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Zimbabwe’s army said it has Robert Mugabe and his wife in custody.

“Their security is guaranteed,” Major General Sibusiso Moyo said Wednesday in an address after military forces took control of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).

“We wish to make it abundantly clear that this is not a military takeover,” he added in an address to the entire country.

“We are only targeting criminals around [Mugabe] who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice.”

Moyo also urged other security forces in Zimbabwe to “cooperate for the good of the country,” warning that “any provocation will be met with an appropriate response.”

That doesn’t sound at all like a military takeover.

More seriously, whatever follows Mugabe, it will be difficult to top him for corruption and oppression and ineptitude.