Service chiefs will neither meet nor engage Tsvangirai

SECURITY chiefs will neither meet nor engage MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai on the so-called security sector reforms and those peddling false information that they will meet over the issue run the risk of being arrested. Responding to media reports that Mr Tsvangirai met with

security chiefs to initiate post-election discussions to secure their positions, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri yesterday said the security forces would never meet "malcontents".

He was speaking during the official opening of the Commissioner-General of Police's sports gala in Harare.

"Before saying too much, I wish to take this opportunity to warn liars and peddlers of falsehoods who dream of talking to us, to this general and to that general in their sleep, that the law will visit them harshly.

"Some of us have no business talking to individuals of no substance whose sole purpose and agenda is to create confusion within the rank and file of the defence and security forces.

"We are too busy to engage confused malcontents who do not know their identity and have a propensity to destroy what others, dead and alive, fought for. They must stop abusing the freedom and democracy that so many Zimbabweans died for. I advise journalists to stop being used in this regard."

Comm-Gen Chihuri described calls by the MDC formations to press for security sector reforms as a "non-issue" that sought to create confusion.

"This is a hollow political gimmick in a futile attempt to try and bring on board the so-called security sector reform, a non-issue in terms of the current Constitutional Amendment No. 19 that legalised the Global Political Agreement."

Last week, a local weekly claimed that Mr Tsvangirai had initiated discussions with the security chiefs through Mr Giles Mutsekwa, who is MDC-T defence and security secretary and a former major in the Rhodesian army.

According to the weekly, MDC-T claimed that Mr Mutsekwa met Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga, Comm-Gen Chihuri, Zimbabwe National Army Chief of Staff (General Staff) Major-General Martin Chedondo and Chief of Staff (Quartermaster) Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba. But Comm-Gen Chihuri said the force's binding and guiding philosophy was teamwork.

"It is teamwork that generates unity of purpose. Indeed, it is equally true that as Zimbabweans we need unity of purpose in the fight against crime and in upholding and protecting the peace which has been synonymous with our country," he said.

State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi last week warned that security chiefs were not in office by favour, but competence and any party that wins this year's polls should not tamper with the structure.

MDC-T plans to revamp the sector if it, by any chance, wins the crucial harmonised elections this year.

Minister Sekeramayi said the MDC formations were being sponsored by the country's former coloniser, Britain, to press for security sector reforms as part of an array of election conditions.

"That is nonsense. Our security sector, comprising the Zimbabwe National Army, the Air Force of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, to some extent the Zimbabwe Prison Services and the intelligence services, are professional bodies whose performance is acknowledged even outside Zimbabwe," said Sekeramayi.

Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa recently said the so-called security sector reforms were not part of the Global Political Agreement and parties pushing the agenda were driven by the illegal regime change motive as they sought to weaken the country's security services.

Minister Mnangagwa said the major outstanding matters in the GPA were the removal of the illegal economic sanctions and dismantling of the pirate radio stations broadcasting hate messages into Zimbabwe from other countries.

But Mr Tsvangirai claimed recently while addressing his supporters in Chiredzi that his party was ready for the polls as long as there were "fundamental" reforms among them the security sector and media reforms.