Chinamasa told journalists that Zanu PF would continue to
work with the military because they were inseparable.
The military has on several occasions intervened when the
ruling party’s grip on power is threatened, resulting in deadly incidences of
political violence during elections.
In 2017, the army toppled long time ruler Robert Mugabe
when succession problems threatened to throw the ruling party off rail.
Musa Kika, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum executive
director, said Chinamasa’s threats were not surprising as Zanu PF had always
relied on the army for power retention.
“These statements by the Zanu PF official are thus
subversive, and are calculated to send a message to the electorate, a warning
that the architecture of violence is on standby,” Kika said.
“This has the effect of undermining free and popular
participation in civic processes. “It is no secret that Zanu PF has turned the
national security apparatus into a part of its electioneering and power
retention machinery, sometimes through the use of brute force.
“Yet this is unconstitutional. Our constitution requires
the security services to be independent and have fidelity to the law and not a
political party.”
The military has been accused of helping Zanu PF stay in
power. In 2004, military generals declared they would not salute anyone without
military background, referring to the late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who
was becoming more popular than Mugabe.
Vivid Gwede, a political analyst, said Chinamasa’s indirect
threats were not a new phenomenon and were always used by the ruling party to
silence independent opinion.
“These threats are not new as we have heard them in
previous elections, including towards the 2018 elections by senior ruling party
officials and some securocrats, but obviously not all,” said Gwede.
“Given the manner and dynamics of the 2017 transition from
former president Mugabe, one cannot doubt the unfortunate relationship and
conflation between the ruling party and the army.
“The threats must be understood to be directed at all
Zimbabweans of an independent mind and on the constitution itself, which
clearly does not countenance inseparability between a political party and the
security institutions.”
He added, “What you must understand is that Zanu PF is
aware that NGOs work towards opening up the democratic space and the party
would want to close the space towards elections.”
Rashweat Mukundu, a political analyst, said Chinamasa was
reading from an old Zanu PF script.
“This is the usual Zanu PF modus operandi more so when the
party has demonstrated poor leadership as in the case now when the economy has
imploded and millions more are sinking into poverty,” Mukundu said.
“The implications are that, once again we will have a
violent and disputed election that will worsen Zimbabwe’s socio-economic
crisis.”
Edknowledge Mandikwaza, a doctoral researcher at the
University of Durban, said the acting Zanu PF commissar had acknowledged a
public secret.
“Chinamasa confirmed a brutal truth that the government has
always vehemently rejected,” Mandikwaza said.
“Acknowledging the conflation between the army and the
ruling party publicly does harm the reputation of the government in the first
place and secondly it tarnishes the independence and professional conduct of
the armed forces.”
He added: “If Chinamasa was a sincere statesman, he would
never wish a strengthened conflation between a political party and state
institutions such as the military because that would be tantamount to
politicization of the army which is unhealthy for our democracy.”
Chinamasa also threatened pro-democracy non-governmental organisations,
accusing them of pursuing regime change agenda.
He also said Zimbabweans in the diapora would not be
allowed to vote until the travel bans imposed on Zanu PF elites by western countries
were removed. Standard
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