Harare, November 15 (RHC)-- Zimbabwe's ruling party is reportedly facing an unprecedented mutiny by the head of the armed forces, as troops take up positions in the capital in an escalation of a dispute with 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe. 
 
South African President Jacob Zuma, who is reportedly readying an envoy to mediate the situation, said Mugabe is "fine" and urged for "calm and restraint." 

Zuma, who contacted the embattled Mugabe, said the the Zimbabwean president was "confined to his home."  The South African leader also contacted the Zimbabwean Defense Force (ZDF), according to a statement cited by the BBC. 

According to earlier reports from the capital, Harare, explosions were heard in the streets as troops and armored military vehicles move throughout the city.  Soldiers reportedly took over the headquarters of Zimbabwe's ZBC state broadcaster in the early hours of Wednesday. 

The unfolding events come scarcely a day after military chief General Constantino Chiwenga threatened to intervene to end a purge in the ruling party. 

There remains no evidence to suggest Zimbabwe's leader of the last 37 years had been toppled, nor have there been any statements from Mugabe's office. 

Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa dismissed talk of a coup against 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe earlier Tuesday, saying the government in Harare was “intact” despite the presence of soldiers on the streets of the capital. 

“There’s nothing really happening.  They are just social media claims,” ambassador Isaac Moyo told Reuters, in the first official government response since rumors of a military coup against Mugabe surfaced in the afternoon.