'Zimbabwe army ready to deal with any threat'

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces is prepared to deal with any insurgent groups that might pose a threat to the peace and tranquillity the country is enjoying, Zimbabwe National Army Commander Lieutenant-General Philip Valerio Sibanda has said. He said the ZDF will remain on high alert and was keen to co-operate with all sectors involved in national security.

Lt-Gen Sibanda said this in a speech read on his behalf yesterday by the Zimbabwe National Army Director for Civil Military Relations, Colonel Charles Matema, during a five-day workshop on raising awareness of cultural heritage in times of crisis.

Officials from the National Archives of Zimbabwe, National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and senior Government workers are attending the workshop.

"By protecting the territorial integrity, the ZDF has to ensure that no part of Zimbabwe is lost to a foreign aggressor or nation," said Lt-Gen Sibanda. "The ZDF stands ready to defend Zimbabwe against any major incursion by any aggressor by engaging in high intensity war.

"We have not experienced this, but we remain on high alert to deal with any eventuality. When there is a threat of insurgents or bandits, the ZDF is also prepared to eliminate them."

Lt-Gen Sibanda said the ZDF had a constitutional mandate to protect civilian power, both central Government and local authorities.

"A case in point is the 2007 attempt by the MDC to topple a constitutionally elected Head of State and Government in an operation dubbed 'Final Push'. The ZDF foiled the operation as it contravened the dictates of the Constitution of Zimbabwe," he said.

Lt-Gen Sibanda said national security no longer referred only to the preservation of independence and territorial integrity of the State, but also related to the protection of the State's citizens, their distinctive institutions and values.

"The defence of a nation, therefore, involves taking active participation in ensuring that its people are also protected from all forms of warfare and harm, to include psychological harm," he said.

"This means taking an active interest in the effect of certain information, ideas and concepts that can infiltrate into a people. This might not necessarily take the form of censorship for it will be resented, but coming up with alternative programmes and films, cartoons, comedies, movies, etc, that depict what is intended to be portrayed and advanced.

"You will agree with me that this broadened understanding of national security begets a responsibility on all of us to make sure the country is secure."

Lt-Gen Sibanda said the ZDF will continue to be involved in military aid to civil ministries both in peace time and during war.

He said the ZDF understood the role that was played by the Department of National Archives in the collection and preservation of cultural property.

The National Archives of Zimbabwe, National Museums and Monuments and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe now fall under the new Ministry of Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Culture and Heritage.