Nyikayaramba speaking in Mutare at what was called an indoctrination workshop, urged chiefs to support Zanu PF.
No leader without war credentials will rule Zimbabwe and President Mugabe will remain in office for life, he declared. I want to make it clear to all chiefs gathered here today that if President Mugabe loses in next years elections, they will have a case to answer. Gone are the Rhodesian days when chiefs were apolitical.
I am not ashamed to declare publicly that I support Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe,
Nyikayaramba was reported as declaring. He called those civil servants who have not publicly declared their allegiance to Zanu PF traitors.
This is all very revealing. When we heard in 2002 that Nyikayaramba had been appointed chief elections officer we asked the army if that was in order. They said he was retired so there wasnt a problem.
Now he is back in uniform and always has been declaring his undying loyalty to President Mugabe and heaping vitriol on Morgan Tsvangirai.
There is nothing professional or in any way acceptable about this. Serving army officers should keep out of politics. We dont want to know what their partisan views might be. Their job is to defend the country, not the candidacy of a particular presidential incumbent. And those civil servants who are performing their duty by avoiding partisan politics deserve congratulation, not abuse. At least they understand their duty clearly.
By the way, we recall chiefs in the Rhodesian era as slavishly loyal to the regime, hardly apolitical.
Nyikayarambas remarks, as reported last week, deserve a wide audience abroad. The international community needs to know about the role of the army in politics.
And then we had in the wake of Nyikayarambas maladroit remarks, Patrick Chinamasa rejecting the allegation that the ZEC is dominated by serving members of the army, police and CIO.
They may not be in the ZEC but they are certainly everywhere else!
Does Zanu PF really expect the EU at their annual meeting on Zimbabwe in February to ignore behaviour of this sort?
And are they also expected to hand out large amounts of money to Zimbabwe when Mugabe calls the EU and US damn fools?
Another example of Zanu PFs delinquent behaviour came from the normally sensible SK Moyo last week.
What happened in 2008 is unusual and we are not going to let it happen again, he said in Mutare. We are a revolutionary party and any other party which thinks it will rule this country is daydreaming. We will not relinquish power to any other party.
He is of course dead wrong. What happened in March 2008 was part of a pattern which can be traced back to 2000. Zanu PF is a party in terminal decline. The more it struggles to maintain its power by beating the hell out of voters, the more it is perceived as a rogue party that can only succeed where it has the instruments of state power at its disposal.
It lost the battle for hearts and minds years ago.
If we were in any doubt as to Zanu PFs rapacity, the Zimbabwean reported the recent seizure of Tiennie van Rensburgs farm by Brian Mushowe, son of governor Chris Mushowe assisted by a CIO officer. Van Rensburg was evicted despite a High Court ruling by Justice George Chiweshe barring interference on the property.
The farm, Rubeni Farm in Nyazura, is one of the few remaining commercial farms in the area. Van Rensburg (73) is battling to get his property off the farm which includes 15 tonnes of maize and farm equipment. His household goods have been looted.
The Zimbabwean reports that armed soldiers led by a Colonel Mashiri from Mutare recently arrived on the farm at midnight and ordered Van Rensburg to vacate within 72 hours.
Post published in: Zimbabwe News