Why #ZANU-PF's armed wing never overthrew #Mugabe - #Zimbabwe

"We (Joint Operation Command) wish to make it very clear to all Zimbabwean citizens that the security organisations will only stand in support of those political leaders that will pursue Zimbabwean values, traditions and beliefs for which thousands lost their lives in the pursuit of Zimbabwe's hard-won independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests.  To this end, let it be known that the highest office of the land is a straitjacket whose occupant is expected to observe the objectives of the liberation struggle.  We will therefore not accept, let alone support or salute anyone with a different agenda that threatens the very existence of our sovereignty."  Army chief, Gen. Vitalis Zvinavasha - 9/01/2002.

Present day Zimbabwe is comprised of two main ethnic groupings; the majority Shona (80%) who are the indigenous and the minority Ndebele (20%) who migrated from South Africa in 1837, fought, humiliated and displaced the Shona before settling in one part of the territory that became to be the present-day Zimbabwe.  Before opting for an armed struggle, the only black nationalist organisation in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) was Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU).  In 1963 a split took place that gave rise to the Shona dominated Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).  The original ZAPU comprising of mostly Ndebele ethnic group separately continued with the struggle under the leadership of Joshua Nkomo.

Several ZANU political leaders were detained by the colonial government while many others fled to exile.  Among those who were detained was Robert Mugabe who had joined nationalist politics in 1961 shortly before ZANU was born in 1963.  Mugabe became ZANU's Secretary General before he was arrested and detained.  In 1965 the detained political leaders made the infamous SIKOMBELA DECLARATION which authorised the launch of the armed struggle by its exiled supporters. 

The newly formed ZANU armed wing came to be known as Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) with the charismatic Commander Joshia Tagongara as its first Army Commander.  He was captured and detained by the colonialists in 1964.  During the time Tagongara had been in detention, Commander Solomon Majuru had taken over as army commander.  Commander Tagongara’s release from detention in 1974 coincided with Robert Mugabe's release from detention too and they both headed for the bush. 

In 1975 Mozambique gained its independence and ZANLA guerrillas found safe haven there.  Also released together with Mugabe, were nationalistic political leaders like Sithole, Enos Nkela and Edgar Tekere. Mugabe became the leader of ZANU.  A power struggle between the soldiers and civilian leaders erupted but was resolved by the then Mozambique President, Samora.  The rebellious Marxist soldiers who were opposed to the 'bourgeois nationalistic political leadership' were isolated and incarcerated.

In 1976 Commander Solomon Majuru gave way to the restoration of Commander Tagongara as Army Commander.  The former settled for the position of ZANLA's Chief of Operations. With the help of the Army Commander Tagongara, the Marxist soldiers were neutralized and Mugabe's leadership established control of both the military and political wing. However, a new chapter of a competitive alliance between Mugabe and Tagongara was set in motion.

During the 1979 independence negotiations in London, Commander Tagongara who demonstrated great political skills that earned him the respect of both the British and Zimbabwean politicians, sat next to Mugabe. He proposed and pushed for ZANU and ZAPU to jointly contest the 1980 first independence elections as a united patriotic front but due to the longstanding animosity towards Joshua Nkomo and ZAPU, Mugabe was opposed to this idea. The following week, upon return to Mozambique Tagongera  died on 27/12/1979 in a road accident believed to have been planned by Robert Mugabe. 

Most Zimbabweans believe that "had Commander Tagongera returned from the war alive, Mugabe would not have become the first Prime Minister" of Zimbabwe.  At the time of Tagongara's death, a cease fire had been declared and ZANLA had assembled at the Assembly Point.  Commander Solomon Majuru took over as Army Commander and the following year, 1980, Zimbabwe gained independence. The 1980 Independence Agreement stipulated cessation of propagating of ZANU ideology in the army but the army was to support government policies.

The two black nationalist guerrilla armies of ZIPRA (ZAPU) and ZANLA (ZANU) who had assembled had to undergo an integration process in order to build a national army. The British government through its British Military Assistance Training Team (BMATT) facilitated the integration, professionalization, and offered technical advice to the new army. Key command positions went to Mugabe's former ZANLA fighters. The process did not go smoothly because of the historical drift between the two groups. 

In November 1980 and early 1981, ZIPRA launched attacks and the ZANLA responded with gross violence in ZAPU strongholds of Matabeleland. Many former members of ZIPRA defected from ZANLA to join the insurgents.  In 1983 several ZAPU leaders were arrested while those in cabinet were dropped. Some top ZAPU leaders were arrested, charged with treason and detained without trial. Many also fled into exile but this development further escalated the situation with thousands of former ZIPRA fighters deserting ZANLA. 

In 1980 Prime Minister Mugabe had engaged North Korea to train for him a 3,500-strong special unit that he named 5th Brigade.  It finished its training in 1982 and it was unleashed on Matabeleland. The 5th Brigade was not part of the national army command structures but fell under the Prime Minister's office. It had its own distinct uniform, communication equipment, logistical backup, and remuneration structure.  It unleashed terror in Matabeleland targeting local ZAPU leaders, war veterans, and able-bodied men who fell victim to summary executions, torture, detentions, destruction of property and encampment in appalling conditions.  The December 1987 Unity Accord between Mugabe and ZAPU'S Joshua Nkomo dissolved ZAPU into ZANU-PF.  An amnesty was extended to the insurgents and Joshua Nkomo appealed to his fighters to lay down their arms.  Mugabe extended the same amnesty to his army (ZANLA and 5th Brigade) over atrocities committed in Matabeleland.

Mugabe had successfully brought the control of the army as the coercive arm of his ZANU-PF under his feet. He purged his historical colleagues in the ZANU leadership. Tekere was expelled from ZANU and he formed his own party, ZUM which contested against Mugabe in the 1990 elections. Nkala got frustrated and resigned from cabinet and ZANU in 1990. Nyamgumbo committed suicide. The rival ZAPU political and military leaders had been purged. At this stage Mugabe stood alone with no peers in ZANU.  To consolidate his grip on the security forces, he put in place a Joint Operations Command (JOC) comprised of the chiefs of the Army, Police, Air Wing, Prisons Service and the intelligence services (CIO).  In 1992 the army chief, Gen. Solomon Majuru retired from the army and was succeeded by Gen. Zvinavashe who had been ZANLA's Chief of Security and intelligence.

During the Bush War, ZANU and ZANLA had been supported by China in terms of logistics, training and funding. Though the British took up the role of helping Zimbabwe to build the post-independence army, it remained traditionally and ideologically shaped on the China model of a kind of a production-oriented army.  The political - military partnership forged during the liberation struggle between nationalistic political leaders and military commanders endures to this day. 

Since independence senior military commanders held top jobs in civilian structures.  As Mugabe embarked on the Africanization of the economy, retired and serving military officers took up managerial positions in state enterprises and parastatals and received much of the land seized from White farmers during the Land Reformation Programme.  Since the 1990s, the number of both retired and serving military officers serving in civilian state institutions such as the electoral bodies, parliament, judiciary, state enterprises and parastatals has been increasing.  They took up positions as managers, directors, CEOs, shareholders and labourers in such state enterprises and parastatals.  The argument was that military officership is endowed with vigour, order, discipline, loyalty and patriotism as crucial ingredients of effective administration of state institutions.  The truth is that the Mugabe ZANU-PF government was providing predatory opportunities for these military officers in order for them to increase their personal wealth as a reward for loyalty in ensuring regime survival amidst growing opposition since the end of the 1990s.

Also, with the collapse of the economy that witnessed a major exodus of skilled labour, the regime responded with military secondment to state enterprises and parastatals. The military was also hit hard by mass desertions of rank and file due to poor conditions and being forced to support ZANU-PF.  Many fled to South Africa where they mostly serve as security guards, USA, and Europe.  For fear of a mutiny, many low-ranking soldiers were seconded to the collapsing state enterprises and parastatals as labourers so that they could earn extra pay.

The Constitution of 2013 prohibits members of the security forces from being employed or engaged in civilian institutions except during public emergencies. While private business tycoons, top security and Ministry of Defence officials form the nucleus of the business-political-military oligarchy, the low-ranking security personnel remain low paid and poorly facilitated. Just a few weeks ago, the army chief of staff complained to a parliamentary committee that the soldiers were putting on tattered uniforms and field military equipments were in a sorry stare.

In 1984 the government had established the Zimbabwe Defence Industries as a business wing of the ZANLA.  It was supposed to manufacture clothing for the army, small arms and ammunitions, small bombs, and vehicle repair components.  In 1998 another commercial arm of the ZANLA, OSLEG entered into joint venture with Congolese companies for minerals.  At one time, the Legal Representative of OSLEG had been the retired army chief, Gen. Vitalis Zvinavasha. 

SICEBO is another military affiliated company that entered into joint venture with the Congolese government for lucrative logging concessions in DRC's Katanga region.  SINO Zimbabwe that was set up by members of the military together with a Hong Kong, San Pa dealt in cotton, diamond and property sectors. Because of its secretive nature the number of military business ventures are not known. The Defence industries (ZDI) and Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation have since the mid 2000s dominated mining of diamond in Marange.  In the 1990s while ZNLA was active in the Congo it was mining diamond, coltan and cobalt.  Senior military officers formed joint ventures in lucrative mineral mining, agro-based industries, hunting, conservancies, transport and farming.  Most of the initially privately owned businesses were forced into joint venture with the ruling elite in which the latter holds majority stakes. The list is endless.

In return, the military interferes with political processes including elections in favour of ZANU-PF.  The military became the core element of state-party-alliance that constituted the regime thus a stumbling block against democratic transition. With approval of ZANU-PF, the military controls and manages a business empire that runs large chunks of land and mining complexes.  Most of the state enterprises and parastatals had been set up during colonial era mainly for extraction of natural resources, transport, telecommunications, energy, water, mining and financial services. They accounted for a big chunk of GDP and a large share of domestic capital generation, investment and employment creation. 

For example, the National Railway of Zimbabwe was put under the management of retired former Airforce Commander, Gen. Mike Tichafa.  The military commanders were rewarded financially and politically appeased thus teamed up with leading businessmen and patriotism politicians to form political and economic groups.  They ventured into lucrative business ventures across the whole spectrum of the economy inside Zimbabwe, DRC, China, and India to mention but a few where Zimbabwean military business complexes had taken root. 

The financial transactions of such ventures are not recorded as part of the defence budget nor open to scrutiny by state accountability procedures.  Instead the proceeds are take care of by a 'secret budget' that is used for hidden and extra legal activities under the guise of national security.  Consequently, the military is involved in unabetted social economic criminal activities and abuses such as smuggling, extortion, land grabbing, human rights abuses, confiscation of private goods and property.

The top military Generals see themselves as the guardians of Zimbabwe's sovereignty. They have a strong feeling of entitlement due to the 'sacrifices' they made during the liberation war.  Zimbabwe's politics and spoils of independence were a preserve of the nationalist leaders who had participated in the war of independence.  The emergence of the opposition MDC had forced Mugabe to open the state doors to military elites for their 'turn to eat' in return for defending their new entitlement from opposition party takeover. 

It was against this background that during the 2002 general elections the then Army Commander, Gen. Zvinavashe made the statement quoted at the beginning of this article.  By 2005 he had retired and become a member of ZANU-PF top organ, the Politburo.  During the 2008 general elections the military's Joint Operations Command intervened by ordering the delay of announcement of results.  The opposition MDC had won the polls by a majority lead of over 50% but was instead given 47.9% against Mugabe's 43.3% prompting a re-run. It also won the majority in parliament.  Instead the military unleashed a nationwide campaign of violence against MDC prompting it to withdraw from the race.  A power sharing deal brokered by SADC saw the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai become the figurehead Prime Minister.

The deal had required the police to be under the control of the opposition MDC while ZANU-PF remained in charge of the army.  A parallel government in the security sector undermined the power sharing deal thus the army took a more central stage in the political life of Zimbabwe.  In 2011 another top General, Douglas Nyikayaramba made another controversial statement thus; "Morgan Tsvangirai is not a political threat in any way to Zimbabwe, but is a major national security threat. He takes instructions from foreigners to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe. Day dreamers who want to reverse the gains of our liberation struggle will continue day dreaming.  They can go to hell. .... President Mugabe will only leave office when he sees fit or dies.  He sacrificed a lot for this country......  we die for him to make sure he stays in power. We are prepared to stand by our Commander In Chief."

By that time Mugabe faced no political challenge from any top historical liberation figure in both the political and military hierarchy.  The remaining top military Generals like Zvnavashe and Solomon Majuru had retired. Leading nationalist politicians were in disarray. Generals Tugamrai and Zvinavashe died in 2005 and 2009 respectively.  Gen. Solomon Majuru died in a mysterious fire at his house in 2011.  His wife Joice Majuru rose to become the Vice President but was undermined by Mnangagwa and sacked in 2014 before Emerson Mnangagwa was made the Vice President.  Gen. Constantine Chiwenga became the army chief in 2003.  Retired senior security chiefs found their way into the strategic ZANU-PF Commissariat Department.  Retired Air Force Martial, Henry Machema and former CIO Director, Sidney Nyamhungo are such examples.  

Therefore, the so called military coup against Mugabe was a hoax because there has never been a national army in Zimbabwe but an armed wing of the ZANU- PF called ZANLA/ZDF.  The two entities owe each other a historical obligation to protect each other against 'strangers' to the liberation war oligarchy.  What happened was just an internal arrangement by the Liberation War icons to re-energize the ZANU - PF's hold on power.  Not much may change in Zimbabwe unless the men in uniform are detached from ZANU-PF.

For those who have been following the political machinations of another military dictator, Museveni, I beg that you concur with me that he is reading from Mugabe's script.  He has for the last four decades been doing exactly what Mugabe did to retain power. Give him time by letting the constitutional provision on age limit be removed and he will perfect the script.  Some of the credits to Mugabe are that he did not destroy education and did not build a personal army under the command of his son. He should therefore be pardoned for whatever mistakes he made. It’s because he is a Zimbabwean who somehow cared for the future generation.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND DEFIANCE IS THE WAY TO GO