ZIMBABWE has effectively moved from a police, to a military
State, where members of the army are now being used to maintain order while
police have been reduced to spectators, MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has said.
In an interview with NewsDay on Friday, Chamisa said while
a police State under President Robert Mugabe was bad enough; things had become
worse because the military has taken over.
“We have a problem; it’s bad enough to have a police State
and when ED [President Emmerson Mnangagwa] came before elections after the
November thing, he removed roadblocks, yet it was a decoy, he has even moved
the country from a police State to a militarised State. We love our soldiers,
we honour our soldiers; they are patriotic; but, honestly, why are politicians
abusing our soldiers to draw them into issues that are not supposed to be
theirs?” he asked.
Chamisa, who snubbed Mnangagwa’s meeting to come up with a
roadmap for dialogue at State House last week, said the army was being used to
further Zanu PF’s stranglehold on power.
His statements followed reports that elements of the
Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) had taken over policing duties from the police
who, since the coup last year, have been treated with suspicion because of
their perceived loyalty to Mugabe.
Until last Thursday, armed soldiers had become a common and
permanent feature at major roadblocks mounted 24 hours a day on highways, while
at some police stations, members of the military had pitched tents where they
were now sleeping.
Sources in the police told NewsDay that while the soldiers
appeared to be working under instruction of the police, it was the army that
was effectively in charge of operations.
“We are as scared of the soldiers as the civilians are. The
police is not trusted. As we go out on patrols and roadblocks, we take
instructions from the soldiers, this is how
the system works because we are viewed as anti the current
establishment,” a highly-placed police source said.
The army has since, through Major-General Douglas
Nyikayaramba, conceded that they had taken charge after protesters overran
police stations.
“They (protesters) overran police stations, burnt police
and public transport vehicles and also killed citizens, including a police
officer. They broke into police armouries, stealing weapons and ammunition,
which they used to kill people.
“Had the military not come in support of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police, one wonders whether the whole country would not have been
looted that day. The ZDF (Zimbabwe Defence Forces) however, regrets the loss of
life which followed the unnecessary disturbances,” Nyikayaramba said,
justifying military intervention.
But MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume dismissed Nyikayaramba,
saying the deployment of soldiers was illegal.
“They are deploying the military not to assist the police,
but to prop up Zanu PF, we have become a West African-style military
dictatorship, if you remember the military dictatorships of West Africa, of the
1980s and 1990s where the army said that they have to intervene in all sphere’s
of civilian life, command agriculture, command justice, command policing,
command housing and everything else has to be done through a military
dictatorship. It is a model that failed in West Africa and it is a model that
will fail
in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mafume said, in line with the Constitution, the army should
only be deployed during an emergency or where police were unable to discharge
their duties, not on a daily basis.
“The deployment of soldiers should be a process to assist
the police, there should be an emergency or there should be a state were the
police are now overwhelmed and cannot carry out their normal duties, it is not
every day that soldiers are deployed, that is illegal,” he said.
Police spokesperson Commissioner Charity Charamba requested
questions in writing and had not responded after getting questions on Tuesday
last week. Newsday
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