Maravi

(HERALD) Security sector reform calls absurd

Security sector reform calls absurd
Tuesday, 21 June 2011 01:00
By Tichaona Zindoga

One of the highlights of the Sadc-EAC-Comesa summit in Sandton, South Africa, which featured an extraordinary meeting on Zimbabwe and Madagascar, was the charade that Zimbabwe exported to the venue.

Away from the fist fights and chaos that characterised relations among the disparate groups that rallied around the hope of regime change in Zimbabwe, the issue of the so-called security sector reforms took centre stage.

Amidst desperate lobbying, a seminar to that effect was convened by an outfit calling itself the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe to set the agenda for the discussion of security sector reforms.

Speakers discussed topics like "Security sector reform and transition to democracy in Zimbabwe"; "The role played by the security sector during and after elections in Zimbabwe"; "Can Sadc through the facilitator

South Africa tackle the security sector reforms?" and, "Sadc's final hurdle to the roadmap: Engaging with the security sector."

It is evident that the issue of security sector reforms as propounded by the MDC formations and their NGO partners is matched only by their denial that elections be held soon as demanded by Zanu-PF and required by the GPA.

And, it takes very little to realise that the current calls for the so-called security sector reforms by MDC-T and company have the same shrillness that characterised the party's clamouring for the ouster of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana a couple of years ago.

Conversely, MDC-T and its partners made similarly shrill calls for the appointment of Roy Bennett to the post of Deputy Minister of Agriculture.

In the parlance of the negotiations that brought, and have apparently subsisted with, the inclusive Government, the above named were referred to as "outstanding issues".
Before the advent of inclusive politics in Zimbabwe, which happened to include the MDC formations, the one shrill call was that "Mugabe must go".

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, before his ego split the party on October 12 2005, had in 2001 disingenuously taken the mantra too far and threatened to remove President Robert Mugabe by force.

One thing courses through all these examples.

Outside of wanting to expressly remove President Mugabe from power, the intention of the MDCs and their backers has been to try and weaken President Mugabe and his revolutionary Zanu-PF party by emasculating individuals and institutions that perceivably hold him aloft.

For its own part, besides creating and bankrolling the MDC, the West imposed sanctions designed to bring Zimbabwe down by savaging the economy. This in turn would cause a humanitarian disaster and force the ouster or abdication of President Mugabe and Zanu-PF.

In the era where sanctions illegally imposed on Zimbabwe by the West wreaked havoc on the economy, it was Gono, who through various interventions tried, and largely successfully so, to keep the economy afloat.

The RBZ chief's interventions miraculously outlived the turbulence of record high inflation spawned chiefly by US/EU sanctions that denied Zimbabwe external lines of credit, foreign direct investment, and tourism business, among other things. He even resorted to the printing press, which by the way has happened in the US and EU lately, trying to keep the economy afloat.

His philosophy was that extraordinary situations, required extraordinary measures.

And somehow, it worked albeit earning himself calls for an ouster from the MDCs and their partners.

On the other hand, as Government's chief lawyer, Tomana stood in the way of any form of anarchy that MDCs and its partners could hatch. He should have let MDCs and their allies' mischiefs go unpunished, believed the MDC.

In particular, he was supposed to let Bennett who faced such serious charges as relating to terrorism walk scot-free. As Tomana dispensed his duties regardless, he was perceived to be persecuting and applying the law selectively against MDC-T members.

In essence, he stood, along other institutions and individuals, in the way of the ultimate "Mugabe must go" goal.

Today, the two persons of Gono and Tomana no longer have the same currency they suffered a couple of years ago, nor can President Mugabe be able to go as agitated for back then.

Yet, the game still has the same complexion and intent. Could there be a more dramatic way to bring the latest scapegoat, the security sector, than having MDC-T's secretary general Tendai Biti proclaiming that he had seen "the fingerprints" of the military in the overly suspicious and virtually shoddy work in the recent alleged bombing of his Chisipite house?

All in time to have him go to the Sadc Extraordinary Summit, quite shaken and, in the words of one perceptive writer, casting furtive glances over his shoulder for fear of another petrol bomb?

Never mind the hell of an absurdity in daring to implicate Zimbabwe's excellent forces in the shoddy piece of work that claimed a small piece of the perimeter wall, the message was supposed to be as shrill as could be ahead of the regional meeting.

Add that to the desperate calls by MDC affiliated groups that were lobbying for the same cause in the party's corner and apparently also to get the attention of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who was in Zambia, and the general drift is clear.

First, the MDC-T has to identify an area that it perceives is powerful and compelling enough. Secondly, they make as much noise as possible to draw attention.

If the demands are to be met, fine; but if not the ideologically bankrupt party would have bought enough time for itself to live another day.

The above examples of Gono, Tomana and Bennett illustrate this sequence.

It is common cause that in the three fronts MDC-T did not have its way, namely seeing the backs of Gono and Tomana while landing self-exiled Bennett into the Agriculture portfolio.

But, boy, what noise they made and appeared a relevant, fighting force! Going into another election which it fears, a long drawn tiff with Zanu-PF over security chiefs gives MDC-T another chance to deflect or defer elections until the party ostensibly gives in to the continuation of the status quo.

Only to start the cycle again! The MDC-T and its ilk have enough reason not to take a particular liking to the security sector of Zimbabwe.

Whereas the MDC-T is born of, and lives in, treachery by being the handiwork of the West, the security sector protects the country from hostile outside and inside forces.

A party that cavorts with enemies of the State - those that impose sanctions on the sovereign nation and institutions and people - can only be as rogue as the partners it tangos with.

If Tsvangirai takes instructions from Washington and Brussels, and he does, would the sovereign forces of Zimbabwe, were they compelled, be amenable to saluting these enemy flags by proxy?

The West has even contemplated invading Zimbabwe, only to be repulsed by the fear of the security and defence forces.

The same forces that the present security forces defeated during the liberation war would have come again on the back of Tsvangirai who is noted for having shied from that brutal and arduous war.

Were the invasion to come to pass, Tsvangirai would be the first beneficiary of that assault on Zimbabwe. In this case, it is inconceivable that forces that are sworn to defending the country could and can take the implications thereof lightly.

This is the reason why Retired Brigadier-General Asher Walter Tapfumaneyi told a seminar in South Africa at ahead of the summit that the security forces would not sit and watch the country under threat from Britain through the MDC-T.

He said, "Under the Constitution of Zimbabwe, security forces are sworn to defend Zimbabwe. Here comes a party like the MDC-T, which Britain confirmed it created . . . It is its origins that are a threat. The MDC is a factor to that threat.

"The threat to Zimbabwe is generated by Britain and the MDC is an appendage to that . . . This is why the military in Zimbabwe is behaving the way it is behaving..." he said.

One thing is clear, rather than "reforming" the security sector of this country, which sector is highly professional and commended at the highest levels, the MDC-T is out to deform the sector.

It is only a deformed, absurd and undesirable creature of a security force that is moulded to the whims and caprices of those against whom it must defend itself.

In other terms, a security sector that favours those who willfully assail and assault the sovereignty and the national interests of a country, is a farce.

Zimbabwe has its interests to serve namely, its territorial integrity; its sovereignty; its resources and its very self-determining soul.

MDC-T's parentage, association, philosophy and mission as presently constituted ultimately set it apart from serving these. That is perfectly clear.

Having said that, one can only conclude that having taken on such a compelling issue as security sector reforms, if the MDC-T fancies any chance in heaven it is only to buy time and wait for another windfall to fill its empty ideological bag.

As such Zanu-PF advisedly must not expend energy trying to defend the security sector, which after all stands tall by itself, but continue on its revolutionary path of empowerment and total liberation.

Labels: CIO, NEOCOLONIALISM, SADC

posted by MrK @ 4:31 PM