A powerful five-man cabal is orchestrating a campaign of political
abductions and disruption aimed at bringing a swift end to prime
minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s power-sharing government, according to
senior diplomats in the country.
The chaotic first days of the new administration, in which cabinet
posts are shared between President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and
Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, culminated in the arrest
on Friday of the MDC deputy agriculture minister Roy Bennett, which
happened as the cabinet was being sworn in at State House.
Bennett has now been charged with treason, reportedly in relation to an
alleged 2006 plot to overthrow Mugabe. Human rights groups also said
yesterday that scores of demonstrators were arrested in the southern
city of Bulawayo as they held a Valentine’s Day protest calling for
reform. In the past few weeks, scores of Tsvangirai supporters and
independent rights activists have been detained.
According to sources in Harare, the new wave of instability is the work
of the Joint Operations Command (JOC), a five-man body comprising the
chiefs of the army, air force, police, prisons and intelligence.
Modelled on a secret command structure in the former Rhodesian regime,
the JOC was revived in 1997 when Mugabe launched the "Third Chimurenga"
(Struggle) to pacify liberation war veterans through patronage and
political backing for land seizures.
Its five members, who vet everything from the daily front-page story in
the Herald newspaper to monetary policy proposed by Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono, are the most powerful men in the country. All
five boycotted last Wednesday’s and Friday’s swearing-in ceremonies for
Tsvangirai and the country’s new ministers.
One African diplomat said: "The JOC is the real enemy of democracy. It
obeys no laws and wants to send the signal that the MDC should not
think that being in government offers it any sort of protection."
Tsvangirai condemned Bennett’s arrest yesterday, saying, "His arrest
… raises a lot of concerns. It undermines the spirit of our
agreement." But the new prime minister also hinted at hostile forces
operating behind Mugabe. He said: "We have to budget for some residual
resistance from those who see this deal as a threat to their interest."
He repeated called for all political detainees to be released, an
original condition of his joining the government, predicting that the
issue would be a priority when the new cabinet ministers started work
tomorrow. The first cabinet meeting has been set for Tuesday and, after
the rocky beginning to the new administration, the prime minister
claimed that the coalition cabinet could still make progress together.
"Obviously with our history, we cannot immediately say we are the best
of friends," he said. "As you begin to trust, the walls will start
falling down."
Lawyers say Tsvangirai’s pledge to secure the imminent release of 30
political prisoners puts him on a collision course with the JOC, which
is using the detainees as a human shield against reform.
Human rights lawyer Dzimbabwe Chimbga said the prisoners, three of whom
have been transferred to hospital, were "hostage to the JOC" which is
more powerful than Mugabe as an individual or any institution of the
power-sharing government. Observers believe the JOC is keeping the
human rights activists in prison – by overruling successive court
judgments – in order to negotiate amnesties for their own crimes.
The political prisoners, many of whom have been tortured, are active
members of Tsvangirai’s MDC or are human rights activists. Some have
been in custody since October on trumped-up charges of bombing police
stations or plotting the overthrow of the government by organising the
training of insurgents in neighbouring Botswana. They include Jestina
Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project.
After successive court hearings, Mukoko and two others, former
Tsvangirai political assistant Gandhi Mudzingwa, and Fidelis Chiramba,
72, were sent to hospital last Thursday night.
Bennett, who was picked up on Friday at the Charles Prince airport near
Harare, was one of the most provocative of Tsvangirai’s ministerial
nominees. He had only just returned from three years in South Africa
after fleeing arrest on charges of masterminding a plot to kill Mugabe.
Perhaps the most powerful member of the JOC is the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga who controls the generals beneath
him and ensures the armed forces get first call on food and fuel which
are sold at favourable prices to parallel market operators who profit
from shortages. Chiwenga controls paramilitaries and the "green
bombers" who invade farms and intimidate peasants.
The group suffered one setback last week when parliament, where the MDC
has a majority, approved a law creating a new National Security Council
to be accountable both to the MDC and the Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF). The creation of the body was a
condition of the South African-brokered unity deal signed last
September.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Tsvangirai may not be able to fulfil a
pledge to pay public employees in dollars. The assertion flumoxed
diplomats who questioned how the prime minister would raise the $50m
monthly salaries bill, given the reticence of the international
community to resume spending in the country. It now seems possible that
Tsvangirai made the promise without having secured the money – either
from Europe, the US, South Africa or his regional supporter, Botswana.