CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Tendai Madinah, Zimbabwe, April 1998
THEME = ARMY
Zimbabwe's civic society and the Opposition,
have warned President Mugabe's economically and politically embattled government,
that its use of the army to quell food riots in January,
will reverberate on the government
The army could be used for better purposes than quelling demonstrations. These took place in January, in the high density suburbs of Harare and nearby Chitungwiza city, when the army was ordered out on the streets to prevent further disorder during the food riots.
Alois Masepe is Secretary-General of the opposition Popular Front for Democracy. He says: "If you invite in the army, you are signalling to the military that they are the ones to solve political problems. The soldiers are obviously going to get excited over the fact that they have been invited to enter the political arena. This is a signal for anarchy! The army always thought their job was to defend the country and the people. Now they are invited to confront unarmed civilians on the streets of Harare and Chitungwiza".
Masepe goes on to say that instead of solving one problem, another has been created. The army may have forced the people to crawl back to their homes out of fear, but the people are still hungry and angry that the army has taken on this role of "law enforcers". This, they believe, is a recipe for a coup. What if the army refuses to go back to its barracks, or if next time, they take to the streets without any invitation, and stay there permanently?
Masepe continues: "There is a tendency in Africa to blame the army when they stage coups, but don't forget, it's the politicians who invite the army in, whenever they feel insecure. The trouble is, once the soldiers have tasted power, they don't want to let go".
Lupi Mushayakarara is a political commentator and a member of the Johannesburg-based Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. He affirms that to use the army in the way the government used it during January, is typical of an establishment which has lost its way. The army has no business to be involved in propping up Mugabe's tattered personal political agenda.
It's clear that the army must stay in barracks. A columnist in the Financial Gazette writes: "Africa has far too many examples of armies tasting power and then refusing to return to barracks". Wurayayi Zembe, Secretary-General of the Democratic Party says the army must stay in barracks and stop being used to suppress the people's economic and social freedom. He says that any leader who relies on the army, is not running an elected government. The army is there to serve the people, not private individuals.
University of Zimbabwe political scientist, John Makumbe, is less than tactful when he says the whole problem is: "The ruling ZANU-PF party believes more in using brawn than brain, because it is a party which has grown out of violence and has not yet transformed itself from a liberation war movement into a civilian political party. When challenged, it always resorts to violent methods".
Welshman Ncube, a Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Zimbabwe, notes that the large numbers of women and young people involved in the current phase of looting, are those who have grown up under ZANU-PF rule, and in one way or another have allied themselves to that political movement. It should be noted that these are the very same class of people who were used to unleash the violence which took place between 1983-1987. On that occasion, the victims were members of the now defunct opposition Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) movement of vice-president Joshua Nkomo. "Suspects" were evicted from their homes and their property was destroyed, particularly after the 1986 general elections (scheduled for 1985 but postponed by the government).
Why is the army used to quell civil unrest? Home Affairs Minister, Dumiso Dabengwa, says that the Zimbabwe Republic Police Support Unit (i.e. the riot squad), does not have enough equipment and officers to control big demonstrations. There are only 3,000 officers available to cover the whole country. Neither does it have rubber bullets, so live ammunition has to be used. The minister, however, can't say under which Act or clause of the Constitution the army is called onto the streets.
Civic groups are adamant that using the army to crush what is called "civil disturbances", is incompatible with the rule of Law and the Constitution. Also, the use of live ammunition can only be justified when lives are threatened. In January, only buildings were targeted, not people.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement