ILLEGALITY EPITOMISES MUGABE’S RULE
Rob Ellis.
I could probably wrote at least a couple of thousand words on this very subject – but today I want to look at the periphery of Mugabe’s kingdom, and how he uses these associated wings of his administration to the best of his advantage to queer the MDC pitch for clear and transparent democratic rule.
The first of his associative bodies is the police – the Zimbabwe Republic Police – a force that I was once a proud member of. Within the Police Act, the constitutional act under which the police force is regulated and governed, it is stated as a prerequisite that officers have to be apolitical.
Apolitical means without any political bias towards any particular party. This, when I was serving in the ZRP, was one of the easiest requirements as I had absolutely no interest in the politics of the day.
But today the ZRP is headed up by a ZANU PF maverick, Augustine Chihuri, who, in typical pro-Mugabe fashion, ensures that the officers under his command toe the ZANU PF line.
How can I be so sure of this? Simple. Look at the land grab, now ongoing for nine years. The seizure of farmlands has been littered with violence, theft and murder. The numerous reports on the internet openly state that the ZRP, whilst being present, have not lifted one finger to assist those being beaten, stolen from or killed.
No one has been prosecuted for any of the political deaths in last year’s reign of terror visited upon the MDC by ZANU PF – even though the perpetrators have been named.
Yesterday, an article in the press stated that the author of a dossier detailing the events during the election last year was questioned at length by Mugabe’s secret police, the Central Intelligence Organisation.
The war veterans – those aging people that were active during the bloody bush war against the Rhodesian security forces during the 1970s – are also allowed to perpetrate whatever acts they like upon the people of Zimbabwe. The leader of these brigands is not even a war veteran! But he has adopted that persona and that is that!
Two weeks ago, we read about him brandishing a firearm whilst orchestrating the eviction of an old lady from a disputed household in Gweru. In Zimbabwe, the last time I checked, it was illegal to brandish a weapon in a threatening manner. I wonder whether he even has a licence to own the weapon…
The security chiefs – commonly referred to as the Joint Operations Command (JOC) – openly defy court orders, norms of practise – and have even threatened to go to war against the people of Zimbabwe!
They refuse to salute the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, because, they say, he has no chimurenga credentials – meaning that he never partook in the bush war. Even though many of their own do not have any of those credentials either!
The whole spectrum of Zimbabwean politics is stained by the ZANU PF reliance upon loyalty – and the need they have to reward that loyalty with the “spoils of war”… the farms, luxury motor vehicles and important public offices.
But there must be an end to this reign of mercenary behaviour, and there will come a time when the ZANU PF upper strata begin to fall off their perches naturally and move on to meet their maker.
More and more people are becoming aware of the falseness, the illegality of Mugabe’s rule, the plunder and theft conducted not only against the people, but against the country. It will happen that one day ZANU PF will no longer be able to warp any election result, and they will begin the slippery slide into oblivion.
And that day can’t come soon enough.
Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man
Posted by Robb WJ Ellis
on October 9, 2009. Filed under Opinion.
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