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Zimbabwe: Dabengwa Says Country is Under Military Rule
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SW Radio Africa (London)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Tichaona Sibanda
A former cabinet minister has said the country is under military rule, following Robert Mugabe's defeat in the harmonised elections on 29th March.
Dumiso Dabengwa, a respected commander of ZIPRA forces, told journalists recently that the deployment of soldiers to 'campaign' for Mugabe was an indication the army now ran the country. He said there was a clique in Zanu PF encouraging Mugabe to stay on, while a survival strategy anchored in terror was being deployed throughout the country.
Military analyst Bernard Matongo said he believed Mugabe gave the nod to his commanders to purge all known MDC activists in the hope they would be too scared to vote in the second round.
'Mugabe has given his commanders a free hand to campaign for him using brutal methods such as beatings and killing innocent people. He's just using the army to hang on to power, but this is all doomed,' Matongo said.
The analyst explained that the regime's greatest enemy now was the economy, which had taken an even heavier knock as a result of the power vacuum prevailing in the country.
'The economy will determine where the country will go from here and not Mugabe and his soldiers. No matter how hard they try to decimate the newly found MDC support base in the rural areas, it would be difficult to change the mindset of a population that is struggling to make ends meet,' Matongo added.
The army has been heavily linked to the post-election violence targeted at MDC supporters.
Diplomats in the country admitted the levels of organised violence and torture have escalated dramatically during the last fortnight, amid mounting tension over the disputed elections.
Zanu strongman Emmerson Mnangagwa and a clique of ruling party hardliners are now pulling the strings behind the scenes, directing Mugabe's presidential election run-off campaign strategy.
Sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that Mnangagwa and his team were now in charge of the Joint Operations Command, in a bid to ensure Mugabe wins the run-off.
Service chiefs and top commanders, including General Constantine Chiwenga, police chief Augustine Chihuri, prisons commissioner retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi, army chief of staff Major General Martin Chedondo, and Brigadier General David Sigauke have said they would not work under Tsvangirai if he defeats Mugabe.
Tsvangirai announced on Saturday in South Africa that he would go back to Zimbabwe to begin campaigning in presidential run-off.
He was due in the country Monday but his spokesperson George Sibotshiwe said the MDC leader would return to Harare 'within the next few days ... not today'.
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On Saturday Tsvangirai met Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos, a close ally of Mugabe, from whom he sought assurances about his safety in Zimbabwe. Dos Santos heads a grouping of three senior officials in SADC, that deal with politics, defence and security. Sibotshiwe said SADC were working on Tsvangirai's security guarantees before he heads back home.
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