Alarm bell of security sector reforms have started ringing
once again as top brass in the Army and Police step up the threat of using
violence to silence legitimate demands for democratic change.
"Which part of the army and whose army will he deploy
against citizens and his opponents?" asked Ibbo Mandaza. He was responding
to General Chiwenga’s reported threats against opposition and Zanu PF
infiltrators plotting chaos.
"Is it his army? Is it proper for a defence chief to threaten the population with military force and is it proper for him to talk politics the way he has? He has openly breached the constitution and the law."
"Is it his army? Is it proper for a defence chief to threaten the population with military force and is it proper for him to talk politics the way he has? He has openly breached the constitution and the law."
It should be noted that Zimbabwe had the opportunity to
implement the far reaching democratic reforms when Mugabe got his hands tied
behind his back after signing the 2008 GPA. SADC forced the tyrant to accept the
implementation of wide ranging democratic reforms which would have end the
partisan bias of the Army, Police, public media, etc. and thus ensure future
elections were free, fair and credible amongst many other things.
Sadly Morgan Tsvangirai ignored repeated calls by SADC to
implement the agreed reforms and failed to get even one reform implemented in
the five years of the GNU. Mugabe went on to blatantly rig the 31 st July 2013
elections and from that day on the nation has felt the consequences of MDC’s
betrayal.
“Simbi inorohwa ichapisa!” (Hit the iron whilst it is hot!)
as the saying goes. We failed to reform the Army, Police, etc. whilst we had
the chance to do so and now face the prospect of Army and Police behaving as
Zanu PF party thugs!
“According
to Knox Chitiyo, an academic and former University of Zimbabwe War Studies and
Military History lecturer, Chiwenga and his colleagues' lack of professionalism
is a generational product of their participation in the 1970s liberation war
that bred "an uneasy and uneven duality between professionalism and
politicisation within the security sector," reported Bulawayo 24.
“The post-Independence aftermath bred what Chitiyo described as an "adherence to the ideology of (black) African liberation … the increasing melding of the party, state and government; and the close 'liberation alliance' between the party and the military", Chitiyo wrote in a 2009 article titled The case for Security Sector Reform in Zimbabwe.”
“The post-Independence aftermath bred what Chitiyo described as an "adherence to the ideology of (black) African liberation … the increasing melding of the party, state and government; and the close 'liberation alliance' between the party and the military", Chitiyo wrote in a 2009 article titled The case for Security Sector Reform in Zimbabwe.”
I would beg to differ with Chitiyo’s analysis; Zimbabwe is
not the only African country whose independence was brought about following a
bitter armed struggle; many of SA’s Army, Police and Intelligence Agency are
ex-uMkhonto we Sizwe, African
National Congress (ANC)’s armed wing for example. Yet none
of SA’s security top brass have ever behaved as rogues as contrast to our own
who have all time and time again pledged their undying allegiance to Mugabe and
Zanu PF when the democratic norm is for them to be apolitical and to up hold
the rule of law.
Whilst SA’s founding father, Nelson Mandela, was committed
to freedom, liberty and democratic rule the same cannot be said of our Robert
Mugabe. Whereas Madiba, as Mandela was affectionately called, went out of his
way to build strong democratic institutions our murderous tyrant in Zimbabwe
has worked hard to corrupt our institutions to serve his selfish political
interests. Before independence the
security sectors were structured to maintain white colonial supremacy above all
else. After independence Mugabe remodelled them to maintain the de facto Zanu
PF one-party cum Mugabe one-man dictatorship above all else.
Zimbabwe had the great misfortune of having a corrupt and
murderous tyrant for founding father assisted by a coterie of some of the most
corrupt and incompetent individuals in human history. Margaret Dongo has
described Zanu PF bigwigs in cabinet, parliament, Army, Police, etc. as “vakadzi
vaMugabe” (Mugabe’s subservient concubines); she got that one right, because
over the last 36 years no one has ever challenged Mugabe’s outrageous and
murderous excesses! No one!
How did the liberation war turn everyone in Zanu PF into a subservient
Mugabe concubine?!!!
Of all the feeble excuses for why Zanu PF officials have all given in to President Mugabe's caprice and malice blaming it on the liberation war is the worst. Coming from an intellectual like Knox Chitiyo makes it even worse but then Zimbabwe has produced some of the dodgy lawyers, professors, doctors, etc. You would think they all got their doctorate after three months like some people we know!
ReplyDeleteTalk of broken promises and dreams; why have you not then talked of how MDC sold-out during the GNU and failed to implement even one reform. If this country is ever to get out of the political and economic mess it is in then the people of Zimbabwe must smart enough to distinguish competent leader with some common sense from the corrupt and incompetent sell-out like you Mr Obert Gutu!
ReplyDeleteIf people still continue to follow individuals like Tsvangirai and Mai Mujuru, even with a proven record of being corrupt and incompetent; that is PROOF this country is going to continue down this path of self -destruction.
People can match in the street screaming at the top of their voices "TAJAMUK A! SESIJILIKILE! WE ARE ENLIGHTENED!” It only shows the people’s love for empty slogans; it is no different from Zanu PF selling itself as “People’s choice!” or MDC’s claim as “Party of excellence!” Ask these people what they have learned and they cannot say.
Zimbabweans have demand democratic change for the last twenty years, at least, and yet when the opportunity to implement meaning democratic changes came up during the GNU failed to get even one reform implemented. Leaders like Tsvangirai and Gutu have no clue what these democratic changes are and the people are even worse. So if you have not yet learned what democratic changes you need to get out of this hell; what enlightenment have you got? Majamuka pakudii!
I can teach a parrot to repeat “Tajamuka! Sesijilikile!” And yet it will be no wiser than those people shout the same.
@ Jean Gasho
ReplyDeleteInteresting but is this not the problem with us Zimbabweans that we are easily swept off our feet.
“I held you in high esteem and honor. I started to see a glimmer of hope for beloved Zimbabwe, even though I haven't lived there for over 15 years,” you wrote.
So what was it exactly that Pastor Mawarire said that bowled you over other than him saying “Hatichatya!”?
His demand for Mugabe to fire corrupt minister would have made sense in the mid-1980s and not now. After 36 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule it must surely be clear that it is not just ministers who are corrupt, Mugabe is the granddaddy of them all. We should be demanding democratic reforms and free and fair elections; as long as he is able to rig elections we will never fire him!
I am not saying you, lady, was ever bowled over by Morgan Tsvangirai but I can tell you that hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans were when he thundered “Chinja maitiro!” He had the golden chance to change Zimbabwe for the better but wasted it because he is a shallow, corrupt and incompetent man who had no clue what he democratic changes were needed. The people did not see that because they are easily bowled over simple messages with no substance. They have never looked for substance.
I am not saying you, lady, was ever bowled over by one Robert Gabriel Mugabe but let me tell that millions of Zimbabweans were enthroned! Even when it was clear that the economy was going downhill and he started murdering innocent people to impose his de facto one-party cum one-man dictatorship many people’s still continued to follow him blindly.
As a nation we are easily bowled over by simple ideas and slogans with no substance or depth, #ThisFlag is one such flash in the frying pan.