Minister says no obligation to salute PM

Mnangagwa responding to a question raised in parliament last week however said the countrys security chiefs could salute the Premier out of their own volition. The structure of the military in this country begins with the common rank of the soldier and at the apex is the Commander-in-Chief, who is the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

The saluting system is structured and maintained in that order, however out of courtesy, and not out of law or demand, Mnangagwa said in response to a question by Makoni Central MP, John Nyamande (MDC-T) on why Tsvangirai was not being saluted at state occasions by the service chiefs.

Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga, army Commander Lt Gen Phillip Sibanda, Air Marshall Perence Shiri and Commissioner-General of Police, Augustine Chihuri, Commissioner of Prisons Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi and the Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organisation, Happyton Bonyongwe, have stood by their statement of last year that they will never salute Tsvangirai because he did not have liberation war credentials.

When the President was being sworn-in, he was sworn-in as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces. Before he is sworn-in, the Service Chiefs of the republic must take an oath that they will be loyal to him.

When the two Vice Presidents were being sworn-in, they (Service Chiefs) did not appear on the scene because they do not commit their loyalty to the Vice Presidents for the reason that they are not commanders of the Defence Forces of the republic.

So when the Prime Minister and the two Deputy Prime Ministers were being sworn-in, the Service Chiefs did not appear because they do not commit their loyalty to the Prime Minister, they commit their loyalty to the structure of the military headed by the President,” Mnangagwa added.