WHEN THE WOLF SEEKS PEACE AMONG THE SHEEP, BE WARY OF THE GESTURE
By Jonathan Chando| The old adage, “violence begets violence”, is best summed up by Martin Luther King in his pronouncements during his time.
In 1956, King said, “As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.”
In 1958, King stated, “Hate begets hate, violence begets violence, toughness begets greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.”
But I liked most, King’s pronouncement of 1963, where he said, “Darkness cannot drive darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence and toughness multiplies toughness, in a descending spiral of destruction. The chain of evil must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
Looking back at the events this past weekend at White City Stadium, where an incident of violence was witnessed, I have reflected on Zimbabwe’s history, and come to the understanding that Martin Luther King’s pronouncements resonate well with our country’s situation. It was a barbaric and callous act which should be condemned and castigated in the highest form. It’s an act that should not be given space in Zimbabwe or anywhere in a civilised society. No form of rivalry is worth shedding innocent blood, no matter the emotional rage for revenge or hunger for power.
But given the trend of violent acts the country has witnessed since the war of liberation, it is not surprising that such would happen. Violence has been in the veins of our governance system all along and should not surprise any right thinking individual.
During and after the events of November 2017, when the military moved tanks and guns onto the streets of the capital, to seize power from the purportedly civilian government, under the so called operation restore legacy, I expressed my disdain and disapproval of such action. I went on social media, predicting that any form of military power takeover, widely known as a coup detat, always results in perpetual instability in the country. I even wrote against the military’s assault on civilian targets who were senior ZANU PF officials and Cabinet Ministers in Mugabe’s government. My concern was not in sympathy with the victims, but on principles of Human Rights law.
I implored upon so called Human Rights defenders to sound their voices against the abduction and detention of civilians by the military in barracks, regardless of their crimes, which is wholly unlawful. But none of them, save for one David Coltart, expressed disdain for such. The so called Human Rights defenders had become part of the celebrations of the power grab by the military.
Even the opposition, with its troupe of law experts, despite having been victims of violence by the same military since 1999, euphorically abandoned common sense and constitutionality, and naively joined the bandwagon, only to change course and declare it a coup, after being sidelined in the days that followed. It showed that they are neither concerned with constitutionality or the people’s cause, but power and self aggrandisement.
The public had also been hoodwinked into believing that they had been liberated from the claws of the 37 year autocratic rule. But when the military installed Mnangagwa, who had been part of the active autocratic regime, it became clear to those who could analyse that it was a continuation of the status quo, albeit with a more visible hand of the military. The war veterans made it clear that it was a ZANU PF issue, and had nothing to do with the people. That should have been noted as part of the long standing internal violence within ZANU PF, which has claimed many lives.
If more than 100 AK47 rounds of ammunition were fired at one target house during the power takeover, would we not call that a violent power take over? Then, I wrote a detailed article giving in full, constitutional violations by the military in what some would still want to believe was not a coup.
As a result of the coup, would we as a nation believe that there were no aggrieved persons to the extent that we would not anticipate retaliation or a fight back? If we do, then we’re either a naive or hypocritical lot. Many individuals, in the civil service, intelligence, police and the military were victims of this violent takeover. Many suffered injury or died but it was kept under wrap.
It was a violent takeover and only created divisions within the competing forces.
If I may add, violence did not start on that day. I have written before, that ZANU PF has never had a democratically elected leader, save for Ndabaningi Sithole, who was elected at its Congress in August 1964. Sithole was deposed by a military coup, sitting at Mgagao in Tanzania in 1975, which imposed Mugabe as leader. So it was not surprising when Mugabe was deposed in November 2017. It was a continuation of the military reign on both ZANU PF and the country at large. The military has always run the country through a civilian proxy.
The military has unleashed violence on citizens throughout the country’s so called independent era, with mainly opposition members baring the ugliest brunt. Rivalries have always been rife in both ZANU PF and the military, with unexplained deaths of many senior party and military leaders, like , Chitepo, Tongogara, Ndangana, Chindori-Chininga, Brig Gen Gunda and Amos Midzi, to name a few. Edgar Tekere was once a target for assassination, which resulted in the suicide of a senior police officer in Mutare after the plot was leaked to Tekere, and he confronted the officer.
Violence was unleashed on citizens by the military in 2008, followed by violent death of Solomon Mujuru in 2011. All this was continuation of the power struggles within ZANU PF , culminating in the expulsion of Joice Mujuru and the Gamatox faction. When Mujuru was expelled, under false machinations, Mnangagwa is on record saying ZANU PF was self chlorinating. The self chlorination was the elimination of rival factions and individuals, by both peaceful and violent means. While the Lacoste and G40 factions joined hands in deposing Mujuru and the Gamatox faction, they turned against each other when they discovered that they were both eyeing the throne and the other would hinder victory. The self chlorination saw Mnangagwa being expelled himself, and the result being the coup to ouster Mugabe. So it is either naive or hypocritical to believe that peace would suddenly befall the violent party.
There are now too many factions, allegiances and rivalries within both the party and its affiliate military, for anyone to believe peace will be achieved.
The coup spokesman mentioned criminals around the then President Mugabe as their pretext for the power takeover, but to date none has been apprehended and jailed, let alone brought to trial. Does this not tell us that either there were never any so called criminals, but only rivals in the fight for power, and they are still out there preparing for a fight back? How then should we expect calm to prevail in the advent of such occurrences?
President Mnangagwa preaches peace but always makes the slogan, “pasi nemhandu!”. Who are these people he terms mhandu? Does that not say a lot about unresolved factional issues? How can one preach peace and yet unleash verbal vitriol on opponents? He says let bygones be bygones, but continues to purge rival members both in the party, government, intelligence service, police and the military. All those purged are men and women of military or other crucial value and are capable of doing damage to the establishment in their quest for power or revenge.
Not long ago, we read in the media about a grenade incident at General VP Chiwenga’s residence. Years ago we learnt of the attempt on Air Marshal (Rtd) Perrence Shiri’s life. Ain’t all these the continuation of violent rivalry between and among competing power brokers? This brings us to Martin Luther King’s pronouncement, quoted earlier, which says, “darkness cannot drive darkness, hate cannot drive hate.” Zimbanweans must not blindly believe someone with a dark past to suddenly preach peace. That should tell them that something sinister is in the making.
Are we then supposed to be surprised by the White City incident? I bet not. The rivalries are actually creeping deeper and the nation should expect much more violence, before any calm will come. We need to pray that innocent blood is not shed in crossfire as happened in Bulawayo. I will not dwell on the flaws resulting from the disbanding or purging of the Police VIP Protection Unit, together with the Presidential Guard, and replacing it with military personnel. It was evident that there was no police presence to contain and manage the crowds, or protect the leadership. The poor execution of the security protocol at White City Stadium was clearly visible, but it’s a topic for another article.
On 23 July 1952, General Neguib, Colonel Abdel Nasar and Colonel Anwar Sadat, of the Egyptian military, staged a coup, that ended the rule of King Farouk and his son Fu’ad II. The coup was executed with the intention of removing the dynasty from ruling the country. Does this not sound familiar or similar to Zimbabwe’s November 2017 event? In videos posted on social media, war veterans declared their fight against a so called Mugabe dynasty. This resonates with the Egyptian coup.
The Egyptian military replaced then Prime Minister Hilaly Pasha, with Aly Maher, who had also been a member of the old regime. Coincidentally, Mugabe was replaced by Mnangagwa, who also had been part of the old regime.
However, Maher did not last long, as General Neguib removed him, and appointed himself President. I do not want to speculate but history always repeats itself, in one way or the other.
In 1954, General Neguib was deposed by Colonel Abdel Nasar, with whom he had planned and executed the ouster of the King. Nasar ruled Egypt until his death in 1970 after which his fellow coup plotter, Colonel Sadat took over.
I am just bringing this Egyptian history to highlight the historically proven trend when military takeovers, termed coup detats, are executed on a country. Rivalries emerge within the military and their civilian alliances, so much that instability becomes perpetually inevitable, as correctly stated by King. The Zimbabwe situation points to the fact that this rivalry will only end with the continued phasing out of all those who were part of the liberation struggle, through age and death. While they are still able to exercise their power to control the arms of both party and government, it will be ingenious to believe that the violence so ingrained in them will blow away.
There’s a historical slogan in ZANU PF which says, “ZANU ndeyeropa”, literally meaning ZANU is endowed in spilling blood. This is a slogan that has deeper meaning than mere rhetoric. It is borne out of the power struggles and and spilling of the blood of leaders in the quest to outdo each other in controlling and leading the party and its military wing. It also resonates with ZANU PF’s violent nature, be it within itself or against political opponents. It is therefore ingenuous to believe that the recent incident is just an isolated one, or that it will easily be contained.
The current President has had a string of malicious attempts at his life, according to press reports. In 2014, at the height of the ouster of Dr Joice Mujuru and the Gamatox faction, Mnangagwa , while Justice Minister, was hit by a Ford Transit van belonging to Paritenyatwa Group of Hospitals. There was much speculation about the incident being an attack on the life of the then Minister. This was attributed to the Gamatox faction, although the results of the investigation into the accident were never published.
Soon after his appointment as Zimbabwe’s Vice President, reports came out that there was an acid attack at Mnangagwa’s offices, targeted at his person. He was not affected but some who worked in his office had to be hospitalised.
In August 2017, the then VP Mnangagwa was allegedly poisoned through an ice cream at a rally in Gwanda. He was airlifted to Gweru enroute to South Africa to receive treatment.
Ironically, investigations into all these incidents were never published and the nation knows not, whether any suspects were arrested. Should we use these incidents as a precursor to the White City incident? False flags are a common tool in the world of politics and military tactics. They are used to gain sympathy, by playing victim, sometimes without regard to collateral damage that may suffer in the process. While I’m not suggesting any malice on the part of the incumbent, I’m just highlighting common shenanigans used in such power struggles and rivalries. Only those involved would know exactly what has been happening. All the public can do is speculate and draw own conclusions.
In November 2017, Zimbabweans came out in their numbers to march against Mugabe’s rule, on the false impression that they were getting rid of the callous regime that had terrorised them in the past 37 years. Little did they know that they were being used to remove only a faction in the blood thirsty party. It is the same factional fights that still manifest, with the culmination of the White City attack.
Zimbabweans must therefore realise that the power to stop such blood thirsty mafia gangs, lies in their collective effort. These elections will not bring any end to the bloody fights in ZANU PF, nor the country. As long as these people are in control of the state machinery, no peace will prevail. A lot will happen before and after these elections regarding violence.
With collective effort, Zimbabweans can declare their country free of such leaders by refusing to be fooled, be it through the ballot box or through collective demonstrations. That power which was falsely used to remove Mugabe, can still be used by citizens to demonstrate and March for their freedom. The security sector can only resist the people’s power to an extend.
People must remember that the generality of the security sector does not condone the manipulation of power by the elite in their ranks. They will not stand against their people in the advent of a national revolution against a violent elite. The military has already been used to protect and defend a clique which had its own selfish agenda. It is apparent that even some in the higher ranks have realised that they were used by their their colleagues in the top brass to seize power for selfish factional benefit, and will not succumb to such manipulation again.
The military has some very professional personnel among its high ranks, who would stand by the people, if they were to march against violence and manipulation of state machinery.
A revolution must never be led by the military, but the military must stand by its revolutionary people. The November power grab in which the military led the power takeover was flawed. It should have been the people on the streets first, joined by the military, not the other way round. Until Zimbabweans learn to stand together against such violence and manipulation by those fighting for power, violence will prevail both in the ZANU PF and in the country.
By Jonathan Chando-
Lawyer, Political Analyst and Commentator on International Law and Politics
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