AGRICULTURE minister and former Air Force boss Perrance
Shiri has defended the deployment of soldiers in the ongoing military crackdown
on citizens following nationwide protests recently.
Shiri told thousands of Guruve villagers on Friday that the
military had a duty to bring law and order where police would have failed. He
said Zimbabweans must live peacefully and try to grow their economy in a
non-violent environment.
“I heard others asking why the soldiers had to intervene,”
the retired chief air marshal said.
“You want to burn Harare while the soldiers are folding
hands so that it is destroyed and we are left with a ruin? There is nowhere in
the world where that thing has happened. Every country needs peace and if there
are riots police are called in but if they fail or are overpowered, soldiers will
be called to douse the fire.”
He added: “There is no one who regrets why the military was
called to control the situation because we could have lost a number of lives
and much more on valuable properties. Can we allow for a free-for-all situation
where police stations are raided and people steal their weapons?”
Shiri said those who participated in the riots must be
prepared to face the music.
He said disgruntled people should find other avenues to
raise their concerns such as Parliament, peaceful demonstrations or engaging
the government. Shiri said Somalia was stripped into ruins by chaos.
“Countries such as Somalia didn’t wake up in their current
situation. It all started small but went on to be prevalent. I once went to
Somalia, their capital Mogadishu is like a ruin. The infrastructure is
vandalised,” he said.
“Our Great Zimbabwe is in some degree of order. It reflects
some degree of modernity as compared to Mogadishu. Therefore, let us not allow
ourselves to take our country to that route. We have constitutional means to
follow if we have grievances.”
Shiri said the leadership was busy trying to engage other
countries to find ways to help the country while others were destroying it.
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