“It was the president’s briefing. Anything to do with the president contact Mr Charamba.”

By Own Correspondent| Following a report that heads of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces on Saturday night met and chose to brief their Commander in Chief Emmerson Mnangagwa saying that there is a security crisis requiring urgent attention, ZimEye sought to obtain direct comments from both Mnangagwa and the military (continue reading).

The ZDF Commander Valerio Sibanda told his boss “the security situation haina kumira mushe, there’s suddenly too much chatter of a coup and suggested to put the country on high alert or even State Emergency. He also said a lot of commanders are suddenly showing defiance to him, ” the report says.

The briefing also came amid rumors that a junior soldier in the Presidential guard fired a full round of bullets into the air protesting the biting economic situation in the country. Government has so far dismissed the rumor as untrue.

There are fears that if the government goes ahead to declare a state of emergency, the military will be used to attack civilians as Mnangagwa works to per chance suppress the simmering public anger. Already, controversial agents like one Tinashe Jonas, linked to the Team Ferret terror gang, had gone ahead to throw emotion triggers in the way seen to serve to justify the looming crimes against humanity.

The military spokesman Col Everson Mugwisi made the following responses in an interview with ZimEye’s Simba Chikanza (SC) late Sunday.

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SC: Col Mugwisi I just wanted to ask about the state of emergency briefing made to his excellency today and to hear if the ZDF and the government are going to proceed in declaring a state of emergency tomorrow(Monday).

Mugwisi: What state of emergency are you talking about? 

https://youtu.be/POHngVgMuw0

SC: Well there was a briefing today wasn’t there… there was a briefing by the generals to the president about the crisis in the country that there is a state of alarm in the community and much talk about a coup.

Mugwisi: Err I am a defence spokesperson. I don’t speak on behalf of the president I think you need to talk to Mr Charamba. It was the president’s briefing. Anything to do with the president contact Mr Charamba.

SC: But the briefing was done to the president isn’t it?

Mugwisi: I think I have made myself very clear that those issues are dealt with by the presidential office; you speak to the presidential spokesperson Mr Charamba. Is that clear enough?

SC: Lastly sir, we saw in January, a spate of violence amid allegations of the military being part of the unleashing of violence. Would the ZDF be there to ensure that there is no repeat of such this time?

Mugwisi: Are you saying the ZDF embarked on violence?

SC: Well, there were uniforms there were military uniforms and the evidence showed that they were soldiers and even the president spoke about soldiers being out of line when he came back from Russia.

Mugwisi: Oh well, I think to be fair you need to send your questions through my email address and I will respond to you formally because you are saying there are people who were involved in violence and you are not sure if they are ZDF.

SC: No I said the president spoke about it, the president in a statement when he returned.

Mugwisi: What did he say?

SC: When he returned.

SC: He said there was insubordination among the security forces; he mentioned it in a statement so, what I am saying is, will the ZDF be there to ensure that there is no repeat of insubordination?

Mugwisi: Err, security forces what’s your interpretation of security forces is it just the zdf?

SC: In this case the area of security forces involved the use of ammunition so I believe this will clearly involve the ZDF.

Mugwisi: But is it only the ZDF that uses ammunition?

SC: No but obviously it is the ZDF that was involved even in clearing and assisting the police in January.

Mugwisi: Ok thank you very much Mr journalist can you send me your questions via email so that I can respond to you formally.

Efforts to get a comment from Mnangagwa were fruitless as his spokesman George Charamba’s phone went unanswered.  His other cellphone line kept bouncing into voicemail.