Opinion By Farai Maguwu|I HAVE carefully gone through the Monhlante Commission Final Report and my attention was immediately drawn to the section that deal with the deployment of the troops to assist the overwhelmed Zimbabwe Republic Police officers.

Having read the annexes – letters exchanged between Home Affairs and Defence Ministries, there is a very strong indication that Mnangagwa did NOT deploy troops on 1 August.

On page 26 the report states that ‘As a result, the Commissioner General of Police invoked section 37 (1) of POSA and requested the Minister of Home Affairs to ask the Vice- President and Minister of Defence to seek the authorisation of the President in terms of section 213 of the Constitution for the deployment of the army to assist the police in the maintenance of law and order.’

There is detailed evidence of correspondence between Police and the Defence Ministry, with the former requesting the latter to intervene.

This chain of communication ends with the Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who was also the Minister of Defence at the time. Pages 26-7 contains very interesting information: ‘The Commander of the Defence Forces, General Philip Valerio Sibanda testified before the Commission that he had been advised by the Vice President and Minister of Defence, General Chiwenga, that His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa had authorised the deployment of the military in terms of the Constitution. It was on that basis that he gave orders for the deployment of the military to assist the Police. He produced to the Commission copies of the letters to confirm the above.’

According to Section 213 of the Constitution ‘Only the President, as Commander in Chief of Zimbabwe Defence Forces has power to –
1. authorise the deployment of the defence forces or
2. to determine the operational use of the defence forces’

Now, here lies the problem: All the correspondence regarding requests for the deployment of the defence forces is in written form. Only the authorization by HE President Mnangagwa has no written evidence.

The letter authorizing the deployment is coming from the Vice President who takes centre stage in the final correspondence, and not the President as stipulated in the Constitution.

We are all aware that on 1 August 2018 President Mnangagwa was in the country and there is no way Chiwenga could have been Acting President.

There is a letter purported to have been written to H.E Emmerson Mnangagwa by Vice President Chiwenga on the 1st of August ‘requesting for the immediate assistance of the Defence Forces for the purpose of suppressing violence in Harare Central Business District…’

Another letter, purportedly written on the same day by General Chiwenga to Commander Defence Forces, General P.V Sibanda, claims ‘the President, as Commander in Chief of Defence Forces has authorized deployment of the Defence Forces, in support of the Police Service in the maintenance of the public order.’

Why isn’t there any written authorization from the President, in response to the letter purportedly written by Gen. Chiwenga on 1 August?

How did the President authorise the deployment? Through word of mouth? A phone call to his deputy? Did someone usurp the power of the President and then forged letters in retrospect to heal the constitutional breach?

Why didn’t the Commission demand proof of the authorization of the President?

One of the recommendations should have been clarity in the constitution on how the President authorizes deployment of troops. This coming barely 9 months after the coup that was not a coup, it’s high time Zimbabwe addresses this challenge with finality.

The Defence Forces form the heart of the State and the command structure must be crystal clear.

Farai Maguwu is the Executive Director of the Centre for Natural Resource & Governance.