Presidential Guard purged (30-11-06)

soldiers” in the battalion has come to light in an acrimonious District Court Martial lawsuit brought by sacked rifleman Private Paul Chinyai, Force Number 807490F, against the commander of the Presidential Guard, Colonel Sanyatwa.
Court documents in our possession reveal that factional plotting over the past year has sparked the drive to discharge “unpatriotic soldiers” replacing them with the overzealous graduands from the infamous Border Gezi National Youth Service Training.
The court battle, which is being presided over by Court Martial Judge President, Major Takururirwa and Judge Advocate Captain Maposa, has provided intricate details of Mugabe’s secret plan to transform the elite battalion into his private army.
Details emerged in the 2 Brigade Harare District Court Martial this week, as Private Chinyai, who was one of Mugabe’s top snipers, fought off his “unlawful and unfair” dismissal from the 1 Presidential Guard, State House Barracks.
According to documents obtained by The Zimbabwean, Private Chinyai was dismissed on charges of being AWOL for 97 days. He is challenging this on the grounds that he had not wilfully gone AWOL but had fallen ill and his superiors were fully briefed. Despite protesting his innocence he was given a 90-day solitary confinement at Brady Barracks in Bulawayo. After being discharged early on health reasons, he returned to his unit but the authorities refused to accept him as a member of the Presidential Guard.
Another class action from other sacked troops is currently before the army’s lawyers at the Directorate of Legal Service.
The purge has targeted mostly the ranks of young privates and non-commissioned officers who have been dismissed for various flimsy reasons ranging from indiscipline, compromised loyalty and mutinous behaviour. Sources in the discharge section of the 80-strong 1 Presidential Guard said 30 troops had been forced to quit since January and immediately replaced by green bombers.
Judge President Major Takururirwa ruled that Private Chinyai be reinstated and his ill health assessed by a Medical Board, but Sanyatwa, who has vowed to block the return of Chinyai and other sacked soldiers, has ignored the ruling.
Chinyai, represented by prominent human rights lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, has now written to Army Commander, Major General Phillip Valerio Sibanda and copied the letter to the Minister of Defence Sydney Sekeramayi, and to the Civil Division of Attorney General’s office giving them a “notice of intention to sue.” No response had been noted at the time of going to print.