SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Plans by the military to dispatch senior officers to all the provinces, to spearhead President Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF’s election campaign, will be in breach of the country’s new constitution.
MDC-T spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said any breaches of the new constitution by members of the military will be noted and reported to SADC as a matter of urgency.
It has been widely reported that Joint Operations Command (JOC), made up of the heads of the military and state security organisations, has been strategizing for months now to ensure a ZANU PF win the upcoming elections.
Two week ago a SADC extraordinary meeting on Zimbabwe pushed for security sector reforms ahead of the elections, because of the partisan nature of the armed forces.
SADC leaders urged the security sector to respect the new constitution and to be apolitical. The two MDC formations insist that the security sector needs to be ‘realigned’, but this has been resisted by ZANU PF, which says there is no need for that.
Security sector reform is one of the thorny issues in the coalition government, with senior officials like defence forces commander, General Constantine Chiwenga and police Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri implying in recent utterances that they will not accept a Morgan Tsvangirai victory.
Concerns have been raised that Mugabe is already using the military to lay the groundwork for his re-election, despite SADC’s resolution for the military to stay out of political fray.
Under the military plan, senior officers like Major-General Engelbert Rugeje will be deployed to his home province of Masvingo to co-ordinate the campaign, while Brigadier-General David Sigauke will be in Mashonaland West, and Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba will oversee Manicaland. Retired Major-General Victor Rungani will be deployed in Mashonaland East, Air Vice Marshall Titus Abu Basutu to Matabeleland South with Brigadier-General Sibusiso Moyo in the Midlands.
Brigadier-General Sibangumuzi Khumalo will run the show in Matabeleland North, while Colonel Chris Sibanda will be in Bulawayo and retired Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai will cover Harare. Brigadier-General Etherton shungu will be based in Mashonaland central province.
Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya told SW Radio Africa on Monday that ZANU PF never respects the constitution when it comes to issues that affect its survival.
‘If ZANU PF respects the constitution and if it happens that they also respect the rule of law, they will not win an election, hence they resort to all the shenanigans to win the poll at all costs,’ Ruhanya said.
However Ruhanya explained that the military will not necessarily employ violence to coerce people to vote for ZANU PF, as they did in 2008. The plan might involve harassing and driving out MDC-T supporters without necessarily killing and beating them up.
Five years ago, the military went on a murderous campaign that saw over 500 people killed, tens of thousands tortured and hundreds of thousands driven from their homes in an effort by the soldiers to guarantee the re-election Mugabe against his main challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai.