It is a well-known fact. Every country on the planet needs a defense force to safeguard its existence. In fact, there is no nation on earth that was not founded on the back of one form of military conquest or another.
Whether we are talking of the Roman or Greek or Egyptian empires or our own Ndebele, Great Zimbabwe, Mutapa, and Rozvi kingdoms. All these owe their emergence, existence, and dominance to their military conquests.
Of course, their own demise was also at the hands of the militaries of other states, which proved stronger and mightier. As such, no one can deny the infinite importance and relevance of a nation’s military.
However, these defense forces need to be guided by one very critical principle that should govern every military under the sun. They need to protect their countries, the people, national security, and territorial integrity.
This is also a key function clearly stipulated in the Constitution of Zimbabwe, in section 212. As such, in order to effectively fulfill this most important role, the defense forces need to be apolitical, patriotic, and professional.
In other words, our security forces have to act in the interest of the nation and not of a particular political party or those in power. That is why the Constitution of Zimbabwe is quite unambiguous in this regard.
Section 208 (2) states: Neither the security services nor any of their members may, in the exercise of their functions act in a partisan manner; further the interests of any political party or cause; prejudice the lawful interests of any political party or cause; or violate the fundamental rights or freedoms of any person.
Can there be anything clearer than this?
Do we even need a constitutional law guru like Professor Lovemore Madhuku to explain further?
Nevertheless, who can deny that these constitutional provisions are frequently disregarded in our country, as our security forces openly and shamelessly serve political party interests?
Even though section 208 (1) of the supreme law mandates members of the security services to act in accordance with the Constitution and the law, there has never been a shortage of military commanders openly declaring their support for the ruling ZANU PF party.
Immediately after Zimbabwe attained its independence, over 20,000 innocent unarmed civilians in the Midlands and Matebeleland provinces were savagely massacred, in cold blood, by the 5th Brigade of the ZNA (Zimbabwe National Army).
This was largely because the ZANU PF regime wanted to totally annihilate the then opposition ZAPU party, led by Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo – whose support base was predominantly in those areas.
Who can forget the recent utterances by ZNA Commander General Anselem Sanyatwe, who unashamedly told villagers, in early July 2024, that ZANU PF would rule Zimbabwe ‘until donkeys grew horns’?
He proceeded to inform the same audience that the military –after he had told them he was speaking in his capacity as the army commander – would implement what he termed ‘command voting’.
This was undeniably the forcing of voters into voting for ZANU PF!
Of course, this was not the first time Zimbabwe military commanders had made such unprofessional and unconstitutional pronouncements.
Ahead of the 2002 presidential elections, the then ZDF (Zimbabwe Defence Forces) Commander, the late Vitalis Zvinavashe, publicly stated that the military was ready to block opposition rule even if the late opposition leader, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, won in elections.
He clearly stated that the office of the President was a straight jacket and that no other party, except ZANU PF, was fit to lead the country.
Zvinavashe was supported by service chiefs who included then ZNA Commander and now Vice President, Constantino Chiwenga, the then Air Force Commander, the late Perrence Shiri, and the then Police Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri.
Such brazen violations of the Constitution were what directly led to the mass killing of hundreds of opposition supporters after the 2008 presidential elections – in which the late president Robert Gabriel Mugabe lost the first round to Tsvangirai.
Not only did hundreds of opposition supporters lose their lives, but hundreds more has their hands and arms barbarically hacked off, in the most horrendous fashion, for supposedly ‘voting the wrong way’.
These are the horrible scenes we have witnessed during elections in Zimbabwe, whereby the military has been used to instil fear in citizens so as to make them vote for the ruling party.
Why has this been the case?
It would appear that the post-independence government never genuinely transformed the former guerrilla forces into a true national army.
Let us remember that the two liberation armies, ZANLA and ZIPRA, were aligned to the two nationalist parties, ZANU and ZAPU, respectively.
In so doing, they served the interests of their political parties above any other objective.
After independence in 1980, ZAPU and by default ZIPRA were effectively eliminated after the Gukurahundi genocide and 1987 Unity Accord, leaving ZANU as the dominant force in Zimbabwe.
Nonetheless, in spite of supposedly merging the three previously warring groups – ZANLA, ZIPRA, and colonial Rhodesian army – the resultant army was still predominantly ZANLA.
There were never any efforts to change the operations and mindset of the Zimbabwe defence forces to now serve the country as opposed to the party.
This is what we still witness a whole 44 years after independence.
No wonder the ZNA Commander does not see anything wrong at all, not only openly and proudly declaring his undying support for ZANU PF, but also threatening to force everyone else to do the same.
This is because we still have ZANLA forces as our country’s military, instead of a genuine national army.
We now desperately need a military that serves the interests of Zimbabwe – and not ZANU PF party and the ruling elite.
We now need a professional defence force, which respects the country’s Constitution.
● Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: [email protected], or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
