ZANU-PF, the current ruling party in Zimbabwe, will stay in power “until donkeys grow horns.” This statement was recently made by the commander of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), Lieutenant General Anselem Sanyatwe. The Lieutenant General added that people “would be marched” to voting stations to cast ballots “whether they liked it or not.” He claimed to be speaking as the commander of the army and stated that the army would implement “command voting” policies.
The arrogance and stupidity of the Lieutenant General are simply breathtaking. However, I suppose we should give him some leeway. After all, ever since ZANU-PF came to power in 1980, the army has been used as a wing of the corrupt ZANU-PF party. Additionally, tribal and racial discrimination within the ZNA have been rampant.
The politicisation of the army began when the nascent ZNA was first formed shortly after independence in April 1980. This was accompanied by blatant tribalisation and discrimination. The net result was the rapid advancement of former ZANLA officers of Shona ethnicity, while ZIPRA officers of Ndebele ethnicity were invariably overlooked.
The notorious red-bereted North Korean-trained 5th Brigade, which reported directly to Robert Mugabe, was comprised almost exclusively of Shona officers and troops. Between 1983 and 1986, Mugabe used it as a very blunt instrument to wreak death and havoc among Ndebeles living in Matabeleland and to weaken ZAPU as an effective opposition party.
Buoyed by these political and military successes, and with little or no public outcry from major global powers, from 1986 Mugabe and his inner circle decided to use the prevailing climate within Zimbabwe to forever crush ZAPU as a political or military threat. This paved the way for Mugabe to achieve his ultimate political objective of establishing a one-party state in the country with him at the helm.
The political and military narrative of Zimbabwe has continued in this vein since the mid-1980s. As evidenced by Lieutenant General Sanyatwe's recent comments, the narrative, some forty years later, remains much the same.
But ZANU-PF is gravely mistaken if it believes it can continue in this manner much longer. The leadership of ZANU-PF only needs to look at its southern neighbour to see what happens when the governing party takes the electorate for granted. It also needs to understand that the average Zimbabwean voter is far more politically astute than they were forty years ago, and that the advent of social media means that the government no longer controls the airwaves nor the public narrative.
By the way, the sequel to The Unravelling should be available in a couple of months time. It is called A Moment of Madness and is set in Zimbabwe in the period 1980 to 1986.
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