(HERALD) Nyikayaramba entitled to his views: Party

Nyikayaramba entitled to his views: Party
Friday, 15 July 2011 02:00
Herald Reporters

RECENT utterances by Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba are his personal opinions that do not reflect the views of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Zanu PF chief whip Cde Joram Gumbo said yesterday. Cde Gumbo said Brig-Gen Nyikayaramba was entitled to air his views as enshrined in the constitution without any hindrance.

Addressing journalists yesterday, Cde Gumbo said the bringing of the motion on security chiefs by MDC-T was ill- informed. Mbizo MP Mr Settlement Chikwinya (MDC-T) moved the motion on Wednesday arguing that service chiefs were making "unconstitutional statements that were treasonous and called for authorities to carry out investigations into the said utterances."

However, Cde Gumbo said it was important for the MDC-T to know that Brig Gen Nyikayaramba was not speaking on behalf of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces or Zanu-PF.
"Brig-Gen Nyikayaramba is allowed by the constitution of Zimbabwe to express himself freely without infringements. Brig-Gen Nyikayaramba is not a service chief as alleged and his statement does not represent the views of service chiefs. Furthermore, he is not the spokesperson of the ZDF. His statements therefore, must not be regarded as the views of or legal position of the ZDF," he said.

Cde Gumbo said the ZDF upheld the law and its obligations under various local and international statutes under the UN, AU and Sadc.

"Pursuant to this role the ZDF will always seek to detect, dissuade and defeat any threats to Zimbabwe, be they from external aggressors working in cahoots with internal groupings (political parties included) or from internal aggressors," he said.

Cde Gumbo said any political party or individuals caught at cross-purposes with the ZDF would become enemies of the State.

"It will be an unfortunate scenario if any of the local political parties, organisations or individuals are caught at cross-purposes with the demands of Zimbabwe's security as these will invariably become enemies of the State by preference," he said.

Cde Gumbo said it was public knowledge that some members of the then opposition went all out to lobby for the imposition of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.

He said the continued existence of the sanctions posed a threat to the country's national security.

"In essence, they are intended to achieve a total collapse of the economy, a situation meant to force the population to revolt against the inclusive Government.

As such, the ZDF regards these illegal sanctions as an asymmetric threat to Zimbabwe's national interests and a deliberate ploy to put national sovereignty at stake," he said.

The Zanu-PF chief whip said the ZDF would therefore not tolerate any unconstitutional change of Government irrespective of which political party attempted to do so.

He said even Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had once threatened to remove President Mugabe through violence.

Cde Gumbo said Brig-Gen Nyikayaramba's statements were views he held dearly and was allowed to do by the country's constitution.

He denied that the statements would incite violence in the country and said it was up to the leadership of all parties to rein in their supporters.

He said there were violent elements in all the major parties in the country adding the situation would not be solved by finger-pointing.

Debate on the motion is expected to continue next week.

Brig-Gen Nyikayaramba recently was in the news after he challenged the MDC-T Mr Morgan Tsvangirai that there was no way service chiefs would remove uniforms and contest against him in the political arena.

He argued that the country's challenges needed him and others in the security sector to confront them while in military uniform.

He said MDC-T leader was not a political threat but a national security threat.