At the Grain Marketing Board, a retired army colonel, Samuel Muvuti, ran the board for many years until he was charged with over 500 cases of fraud.
By keeping army officers well taken care of, Mugabe made sure the ties founded in the struggle remained strong.
It worked, and they have defended him for years.
Douglas Nyikayaramba, a top military officer, once declared he was prepared to die for Mugabe.
At the burial earlier this year of intelligence officer, Zenzo Ntuliki, Mugabe publicly thanked the security forces for keeping him in power.
“These uniforms are not just for putting on,” he declared.
Mugabe is now being kicked out by the same military that has kept him in power for so long.
Drunk on his own self-delusion, he forgot how much power over the State he had given the military over the years.
For the military, the threat of losing all that influence over the State broke the decades-old alliance.
It was a threat represented by First Lady Grace and her allies, who, in their arrogant chase for power, showed little respect for the war veterans and their critical role.
In 2008, during that bloody runoff campaign, Mugabe vowed a voter’s pen could never have power over the gun.
“A country we won by the gun? Taken away by the stroke of a pen? Never. The pen can never be mightier than the gun.”
Today, surrounded by those same guns, shaky pen in hand and being forced to sign his resignation letter, Mugabe must be wishing for pens to be mightier than guns.- The Source
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