Opinion / Columnist
Politics in Zimbabwe and the role of the army
19 Nov 2017 at 13:39hrs | Views
A messy stand-off between the government, protesters and the army suggests that controlling Zimbabwe is harder than ever. SEIZING control of the state-controlled broadcaster used to be the prelude to military intervention in a country not used to military dominance. The army intervention shocked the whole world because of its peaceful nature. Restraint practiced by the army in the face of the unwarranted provocation had shown utmost professionalism in our soldiers.
The headquarters of the broadcasting ZBC in the heart of Harare was one of the first buildings to be taken over by soldiers when General Chiwenga threw his weight to bring sanity to the country. The sight of troops piling into the streets aroused feelings of déjà vu. This time the soldiers entered ZBC only to remove elements who were monopolising the airwaves and who had forced the channel off air. Even so, those who hoped Cde Mugabe's return to power would spell an end to military meddling have reason to be worried. The generals are again circling ominously around him. The country which came by a gun point was being waisted away by a misguided woman.
The First Lady was being used by the four people to insult ZANU PF stalwarts and the army. Never in the history of the world had the army been insulted by the first lady.
The country was literally captured and people's suffering was perpetuated by the reckless talk of the first lady.
ZANU PF was transformed into a Kangaroo court and people were embarrassed in public and where never given a chance to defend themselves.
Professor Jonathan Moyo was tried and acquitted at a rally. The judge and prosecutor was none other than the first lady. Mnangagwa was denied a fair hearing and he was stripped nak*d. It became very clear that the president had lost power.
Booing the first lady was regarded as equivalent to booing the president. The first lady had committed treason and yet everybody cheered her on. It came a time that someone will tell madam to stop it as it had become her trademark warning.
When the army stepped in people were overjoyed and gathered in their millions to demonstrate their pleasure to the removal of the president. It becomes a pity that the legacy which took that long to be build went into smoke in a split of a second.
The army where withhin their constitutional right to defend the state and the values of the same. The constitution gave them such a right and they indeed conformed to their mandate as dictated by the constitution of Zimbabwe.
The demonstrators country wide who came to support the army were largely made up of supporters of all political parties. The week preceding the 18 th of November 2017 marked a new leaf in the History of Zimbabwe.
The dismissal of VP Mnangagwa who was labelled a coward by Grace Mugabe was the trigger to the drama which unfolded.
Cde Munangagwa with a large political support base, was humiliated because of his popularity.He was accused of an attempt to force out the government. Grace has demanded the sacking of Cde Mnangagwa replacing him with herself. Her schemers Mr Kasukuwere and Professor Moyo forgot to control her. They spent their effort on twitter while Grace displayed her immaturity in public. Her speeches removed her from the hearts of many. She claimed she was being robbed of victory, although no one-independent seems to agree with her.
The interface combined crowds have been modest by Zimbabwean standards. Numbers have peaked at around 50,000 on carnival-like days of insults and speeches, but fell far below that during a recent rise in tension. The aim of the assault on VP appeared to be to stir up confrontation in the hope that this would tempt the police to step in and arrest Mnagagwa. While thugs have struck police officers with disrespect soldiers have been treated respectfully because they managed to tell madam First Lady to stop it.
On 13th Movember the army did come out to umpire: This was to cool tempers. Unfortunately the president could not listen. He had also been wanting to have no one near the throne.
The group of four led by the First Lady went on overdrive scheming on how they can take over the country. They used the first lady to accomplish their final takeover.
The following day the army told the government not to allow the thugs to blow away the gains of freedom.
The CDF. was to be arrested and the plan was to be complete. The sixth sense of the army was engaged and they stepped in to restore peace and order.
The generals certainly had mo motives to weaken or even destroy Cd Mugabe who has unlimited powers. The president has made no secret of his desire to impose civilian control over the army. He also wants to transform hostile relations with People a policy the army opposes. Furthermore, a government source says that the generals are angry because Mr Mugabe reneged on what they allege was a deal to let hin slip abroad to avoid being found guilty of treason.
Lastly, the government has been at odds with the army over Irresponsible chats at rallies and on television station. In August the army demanded that Grace be closed down after she accused the chief of its intelligence wing of ordering the attempted bombing of Mazowe diary. that the army has already made a warning and Mugaabe has not ceded some authority in these areas.
So the army entered and an infringement of the president-power was justified. . But it is not exactly a coup. The protesters' efforts to draw the army further in have failed even the generals appear to recognise that a military takeover would be bad for the army itself the army has been trying to avoid taking overt control of politics. It worries that International opinion would be jeopardised by a coup. It has little interest in prolonging the turmoil on the streets of Harare at a time when it is engaged in a long fiscussion with Mugabe. UThe generals back his efforts to boost economic growth, not just to pay the nation's civilian bills but also its huge military ones.
It is uncertain how much of a role, if any, the army will play in fomenting the final push Zimbabwe has a vast number of retired generals, who claim to speak for "the army" but who are in fact far removed from the real power around the miltary
There are still politicians who want a greater army role in politics, but those who oppose interference have grown in strength in recent weeks many people spoke out in defence of democracy and for the bravery of the army.
The army is still by far the strongest institution tha zimbabwe has. But political power has become much more diffuse than it was on that night when the army needed only to seize control of one television station to take command of the entire country. The actions of the army is entirely constitutional they were justified to fight
Vazet2000@yahoo.co
The headquarters of the broadcasting ZBC in the heart of Harare was one of the first buildings to be taken over by soldiers when General Chiwenga threw his weight to bring sanity to the country. The sight of troops piling into the streets aroused feelings of déjà vu. This time the soldiers entered ZBC only to remove elements who were monopolising the airwaves and who had forced the channel off air. Even so, those who hoped Cde Mugabe's return to power would spell an end to military meddling have reason to be worried. The generals are again circling ominously around him. The country which came by a gun point was being waisted away by a misguided woman.
The First Lady was being used by the four people to insult ZANU PF stalwarts and the army. Never in the history of the world had the army been insulted by the first lady.
The country was literally captured and people's suffering was perpetuated by the reckless talk of the first lady.
ZANU PF was transformed into a Kangaroo court and people were embarrassed in public and where never given a chance to defend themselves.
Professor Jonathan Moyo was tried and acquitted at a rally. The judge and prosecutor was none other than the first lady. Mnangagwa was denied a fair hearing and he was stripped nak*d. It became very clear that the president had lost power.
Booing the first lady was regarded as equivalent to booing the president. The first lady had committed treason and yet everybody cheered her on. It came a time that someone will tell madam to stop it as it had become her trademark warning.
When the army stepped in people were overjoyed and gathered in their millions to demonstrate their pleasure to the removal of the president. It becomes a pity that the legacy which took that long to be build went into smoke in a split of a second.
The army where withhin their constitutional right to defend the state and the values of the same. The constitution gave them such a right and they indeed conformed to their mandate as dictated by the constitution of Zimbabwe.
The demonstrators country wide who came to support the army were largely made up of supporters of all political parties. The week preceding the 18 th of November 2017 marked a new leaf in the History of Zimbabwe.
The dismissal of VP Mnangagwa who was labelled a coward by Grace Mugabe was the trigger to the drama which unfolded.
Cde Munangagwa with a large political support base, was humiliated because of his popularity.He was accused of an attempt to force out the government. Grace has demanded the sacking of Cde Mnangagwa replacing him with herself. Her schemers Mr Kasukuwere and Professor Moyo forgot to control her. They spent their effort on twitter while Grace displayed her immaturity in public. Her speeches removed her from the hearts of many. She claimed she was being robbed of victory, although no one-independent seems to agree with her.
On 13th Movember the army did come out to umpire: This was to cool tempers. Unfortunately the president could not listen. He had also been wanting to have no one near the throne.
The group of four led by the First Lady went on overdrive scheming on how they can take over the country. They used the first lady to accomplish their final takeover.
The following day the army told the government not to allow the thugs to blow away the gains of freedom.
The CDF. was to be arrested and the plan was to be complete. The sixth sense of the army was engaged and they stepped in to restore peace and order.
The generals certainly had mo motives to weaken or even destroy Cd Mugabe who has unlimited powers. The president has made no secret of his desire to impose civilian control over the army. He also wants to transform hostile relations with People a policy the army opposes. Furthermore, a government source says that the generals are angry because Mr Mugabe reneged on what they allege was a deal to let hin slip abroad to avoid being found guilty of treason.
Lastly, the government has been at odds with the army over Irresponsible chats at rallies and on television station. In August the army demanded that Grace be closed down after she accused the chief of its intelligence wing of ordering the attempted bombing of Mazowe diary. that the army has already made a warning and Mugaabe has not ceded some authority in these areas.
So the army entered and an infringement of the president-power was justified. . But it is not exactly a coup. The protesters' efforts to draw the army further in have failed even the generals appear to recognise that a military takeover would be bad for the army itself the army has been trying to avoid taking overt control of politics. It worries that International opinion would be jeopardised by a coup. It has little interest in prolonging the turmoil on the streets of Harare at a time when it is engaged in a long fiscussion with Mugabe. UThe generals back his efforts to boost economic growth, not just to pay the nation's civilian bills but also its huge military ones.
It is uncertain how much of a role, if any, the army will play in fomenting the final push Zimbabwe has a vast number of retired generals, who claim to speak for "the army" but who are in fact far removed from the real power around the miltary
There are still politicians who want a greater army role in politics, but those who oppose interference have grown in strength in recent weeks many people spoke out in defence of democracy and for the bravery of the army.
The army is still by far the strongest institution tha zimbabwe has. But political power has become much more diffuse than it was on that night when the army needed only to seize control of one television station to take command of the entire country. The actions of the army is entirely constitutional they were justified to fight
Vazet2000@yahoo.co
Source - Dr Masimba Mavaza
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
