By Wilbert Mukori- “It is beyond any iota of doubt in Zimbabwe that the institution of the military plays a decisive factor in the politics of the country,” reported The Independent.
“Numerous “clever” politicians have attempted to suggest and insinuate about something they call “security sector reform” or “reform of the military” yet history is laden with case innuendoes of where the military in Zimbabwe has decided the trajectory of politics, to a point of reforming the behaviour of political actors.
“It is foolhardy for one to resist to note this overt truth, a truth that is so “loud to see” and “big to hear”, if ever English words can be played around in such a fashion, just to prove how this institution plays a central role in the politics of the country.”
These sweeping statements founded on conjecture and ignorance and not on fact and reality.
There is nothing to suggest Zimbabwe’s security services; the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Services; were doomed to be the corrupt and partisan institution they are today. If it was not for the corrupting influence of Zanu PF they would be carrying out their duties and Zimbabwe would be a healthy and functioning democratic country.
Robert Mugabe did not have a single drop of democratic blood in his veins; he was a control freak tyrant who wanted absolute power and was pretty ruthless in insuring he got what he wanted. He surrounded himself with dimwits like the late Simon Muzenda, Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mugabe’s regime was a Sultan’s harem full of subservient eunuchs and wives.
“Mose murivakadzi vaMugabe!” (You are all Mugabe’s harem wives!) Ms Margaret Dongo reprimanded her fellow Zanu PF Ministers, MPs, etc. in sheer exasperation at their failure to stand-up to Mugabe even when the situation demanded it, such as the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre. Of course, she was right and, more significantly, her fellow Zanu PF leaders themselves and the nation at large knew she had hit the nail on the head!
It comes as no surprise that the same tyrannical and control freak, Robert Mugabe, would have stopped at nothing to groom and mould the country’s security services to serve his one-party state agenda at the expense of the nation’s democratic agenda. If Mugabe had brow beaten his fellow political leaders into submission; what more the Police Officers and the soldiers, obliged to take his commands as their Commander-In-Chief, no questions asked!
“The Zvinavashe Doctrine, pronounced in early 2000 (which begins with words, “We want to make it abundantly clear that the military will not salute anyone without liberation credentials”) shows a decisive inclination in values and prove the unbridled fact that the military in Zimbabwe at least thus far, is, and remains, the single most important institution insofar as the statecraft of the country is concerned,” argued The Independent.
The Independent is referring to the then Zimbabwe Defence Forces chief Vitalis Zvinavashe’s threat the Army will not salute Morgan Tsvangirai if won the elections. The threat was repeated that year and on several other occasions since by many senior officers in the Army, Police, etc.
History will show that by 2000 the top brass in the country’s security services were already brainwashed into believing the de facto one-party state, formally adopted by the signing of the 1987 Unity Accord between PF Zapu and Zanu PF, saved the country’s best interests. The multi-party democracy, symbolised by the emergence and election of the opposition parties, was not in the nation’s interest.
If the Zanu PF government and Commander-In-Chief, Robert Mugabe, had not encouraged the treasonous Zvinavashe doctrine; the regime’s failure to condemn it spoke volumes on the matter.
Robert Mugabe founded the Joint Operation Command (JOC) comprising the top brass in the four security branches plus a few select individuals from Zanu PF headed by Mugabe himself with Emmerson Mnangagwa as his assistant. The primary purpose of JOC was to help Mugabe impose the de facto one-party dictatorship.
When Mugabe and Zanu PF were routed in the March 2008 vote; Mnangagwa and JOC stopped ZEC declaring the results. The Junta spend the next six weeks recounting 5 million votes, whittling down Tsvangirai’s 73% votes, according to Mugabe’s Freudian slip, to 47% – enough to force the run-off. The Junta came to its own in implementing the military style Operation “Mavhotera ani?” (Whom did you vote for?)
The Junta punished the voters for rejecting Zanu PF and Mugabe in the March vote; hundreds of thousands were harassed, beaten and/or raped and millions were internally displaced using the war veterans and Zanu PF militia. The heavy-duty stuff of abducting a murdering people was carried out by personal from the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services. Over 500 innocent people were murdered in cold blood in that operation.
Until 2008, the security services’ involvement in the rigging of elections and other political activities had been confined to the Zvinavashe doctrine and other clandestine work. All caution was thrown to the wind during Operation Mavhotera ani marking the 2008 as a watershed election. The top brass in the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services must have known their active involvement in Operation Mavhotera ani, was a point of no return. They had lost all pretences of being independent, apolitical and committed to multi-party democratic values.
It was in the post 2008 election era that the security services branches’ involvement in diamond mining and other looting activities increased significantly. Mugabe was no doubt rewarding his JOC junta partners for helping him and Zanu PF stay in power and increasing their stake in the dictatorship.
When the Junta carried out the political coup in 2008 to wrestle power from MDC, Operation Mavhotera ani was a political coup, none of them ever imagined that SADC and AU would refuse to recognise Zanu PF as the legitimate government, punishment for the blatant cheating and wanton violence. Mugabe was forced to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA), agreeing to the implementation of the raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship.
Fortunately for Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, who were tasked to implement the reforms turned out to be corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless. They failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU. Not even one!
Zanu PF emerged from the GNU with all its dictatorial powers untouched include the party’s undemocratic control over the Army, Police, etc. and the carte blanche powers to rig elections. The party realised that it would avoid the punishment for rigging the elections as long as the opposition participated in the elections. The party has since given away a few gravy-train seats to entice the opposition to participate.
By participating in the flawed elections opposition are giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
“It is beyond any iota of doubt in Zimbabwe that the institution of the military plays a decisive factor in the politics of the country.”
This is not one iota of evidence to show the military, or any of the other three security services branches, have played any role in MDC’s failure to implement reforms during the GNU and/or MDC’s stubborn insistence in participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. Not one iota!
The November 2017 military coup should not be taken as proof of the military influence in Zimbabwe politics because the coup would have never happened if the G40 faction had not made it clear it would ouster the liberation war generation. The overwhelming majority in JOC were liberation war generation and it is no wonder the coup was code-named “Operation Restore Legacy!”
The November 2017 coup was reportedly to “remove criminals around the President” responsible for the economic meltdown, announced the coup spokesperson; proof the coup plotters are aware the army are not the only players in Zimbabwe politics. Indeed, there is increasing talk of yet another coup and/or street protests to force change because the November 2017 coup has failed to deliver hoped for economic recovery.
Zimbabwe’s de facto one party dictatorship has benefited the few ruling elite at the expense of the overwhelming majority forced to live in abject poverty. The system is economically, socially, morally and politically unsustainable. The country needs meaningful political change.
One way sure way to delivery orderly political change is implementing the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA. The Army did not resist the implementation of the reforms back then and there is nothing to suggest it will do so now!