The Insider - Security issues pushed to the backburner

The Insider
Journalism for change

The Insider - January 2010

Security issues pushed to the backburner

Security issues have been pushed to the backburner with most Zimbabweans saying the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front is most responsible for blocking implementation of the Global Political Agreement which ushered in the inclusive government that has been steering the country since February last year.

Political observers and analysts have argued that Zimbabwe needs a security sector reform because of the depth of the politicisation and militarisation of many of Zimbabwe's sectors.

There is even an argument that the military has been running the country since the farm invasions of 2000. Academic and military expert Knox Chitiyo, head of the Africa Programme at the Royal United Services Institute in London, argues that the Joint Operations Command, which has existed from the Rhodesian days, had in effect become a government on its own.

"Initially, the JOC, operated under the tacit management of the party (ZANU-PF), but by the time of the 2005 elections it was clear that the JOC was no longer an instrument of the state. It had become an alternative to the state, and was, in effect, a parallel government," Chitiyo says in his paper entitled The case for security sector reform in Zimbabwe .

The paper, which seems to have been widely circulated among ZANU-PF cadres, drove the party congress to come up with a resolution saying that ZANU-PF "shall not allow the Security Forces of Zimbabwe to be the subject of any negotiation for a so-called 'security sector reform' that is based on patent misrepresentations of Zimbabwe's heroic history and for the mere purpose of weakening the state so that it can be easily overthrown."

The hardline stance by the party which controls both the military and intelligence services in the government and shares Home Affairs with the Movement for Democratic Chance is believed to have been a last ditch attempt to cling on to something to bargain with the MDC which is insisting on having the outstanding issues within the GPA resolved by today, January 15.

The MDC wants attorney-general Johannes Tomana and central bank governor Gideon Gono fired. It also wants five provincial governors to be appointed from the party and its treasurer, Roy Bennett to be sworn in as deputy Minister of Agriculture.

ZANU-PF on the other hand insists that the MDC must get the West to lift sanctions on its leaders and must stop what it calls pirate radio stations from broadcasting.

People's priorities however seem to be elsewhere. They are more concerned about economic stability than anything else and believe ZANU-PF is the biggest stumbling block.

According to a survey on the official Prime Minister's website, more than 80 percent of the people that voted said ZANU-PF was most to blame for failure to implement the GPA. The security sector was second by with merely 7 percent of the vote.

Military chiefs who have vowed in the past that they would never salute someone who did not participate in the liberation struggle are likely to remain in power for some time and continue to call the shots.

The security services including the army, air force, intelligence, police and prisons, are all led by sitting or former army generals or ex-combatants.

Chitiyo, who was at one time a senior lecturer in war studies at the University of Zimbabwe, says although the inclusive government has brought about stabilisation and reconstruction, political violence and systemic infractions of the rule of law continue and could derail progress if left unattended.

He also says police reform is the most urgent priority.

Posted- 15 January 2010

To comment on this story or to send us tip-offs, write to The Insider

Breaking News