By Lance Guma
Hundreds of motorbikes have been purchased and delivered for use by a group of about 300 soldiers nicknamed the ‘Boys on Leave’ who have been assigned to campaign on behalf of president Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party.
Nehanda Radio understands the motorbikes were bought from the Loncin Motorcycle Factory in China and delivered in truckloads about three months ago. One such truckload was sent to Thornhill Air Base in Gweru.
A source at the base told us “the soldiers are currently undergoing Class 3 (motorbike) training all over the country. When the bikes were delivered, we were wondering why they were so many of them when we don’t use them.”
“Now it’s out in the open at the base. The so-called ‘Boys on Leave’ who were appointed political commissars for Zanu PF will be in all the rural districts campaigning for Zanu PF, including terrorising villagers were necessary.”
Nehanda Radio was told that the ‘Boys on Leave’ will be issued with the bikes at the end of the current training exercise. The bikes will be used during Zanu PF’s political campaigns and help the soldiers access areas that have poor roads.
“It’s also a big worry that each of these ‘soldiers on bikes’ will be issued with an AK47 assault rifle and a pistol. The idea is to scare people in the rural areas even without beating them up, but just by being visible” our source told us.
In November 2010 Air Vice-Marshal Henry Muchena from the Air Force of Zimbabwe was sent to the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare and assigned to lead this team of 300 army officers deployed around the country to help Zanu PF.
Former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director internal, Sydney Nyanhongo, was also reported to be part of the team and working directly with Zanu PF. This was after political commissar Webster Shamu admitted that grassroots Zanu PF structures had crumbled and were in a state of chaos.
According to the plan three top commanders will be stationed in each of the country’s 10 provinces assisted by three soldiers per district. With Zimbabwe having around 59 districts it means the team will have a minimum of 207 soldiers.
Although the official line is that the army is helping to rebuild ZANU PF structures, past history suggests a more sinister motive.
After the March 2008 elections the Joint Operations Command, which groups the army, police and CIO, similarly deployed 200 senior army officers who led a murderous campaign of retribution. Hundreds were killed and tens of thousands tortured or maimed.
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