Party spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said the current recruitment drive, which does not require academic qualifications, was being done clandestinely to accommodate Zanu PF youth militia.
He claimed that some army officials were working in cahoots with Zanu PF members to enable them to identify those who are politically correct, meaning those who support the former ruling party.
Mwonzora said the partisan recruitment was evident in most rural areas but most pronounced in Manicaland province. “The recruitment drive is not above board. It is done clandestinely to Zanu PF members only,” alleged Mwonzora. “It will compromise the professional integrity of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF).”
The MDC-T has described the exercise as part of preparations for an onslaught by the security sector on all those who do not support Zanu PF ahead of elections this year or in 2013.
“This is an ominous indication of preparation for massive violence that is going to be unleashed against the people of Zimbabwe,” said Mwonzora. “But the recruitment has also taken a new interesting twist with children whose parents are aligned to one faction of Zanu PF also being denied the chance to join the army here in Manicaland.”
Zanu PF factionalism raised its ugly head in Manicaland during the party district co-ordinating committee (DCC) elections recently resulting in the nullification of results in some areas.
ZNA spokesperson Colonel Alphios Makotore dismissed MDC-T’s allegations insisting that the recruitment exercise was above board. “There is nothing like that. It’s not true,” said Makotore. “We are a professional army that does not look at such trivial issues.”
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Speaking on the sideline of an army training exercise in Mutoko recently, Major General Martin Chedondo said the army had changed recruitment policy so that it can also take on board disadvantaged members of the society.
He said it was a directive that every army intake was going to recruit potential soldiers from every village in all the country’s provinces. Chedondo said previously the army used to receive complaints from people who were failing to join the army due to strict recruitment rules.
Recruitment must be on merit: Muchauraya
MDC-T Manicaland spokesperson Pishai Muchauraya said the recruitment should be based on merit and fitness so that the country can boast of a professional and capable army.
“How can they recruit people who cannot read a map or temperature?” asked Muchauraya. “This is a recipe for disaster.” The army has been accused of propping President Robert Mugabe in previous elections. The MDC-T has said at least 200 of its supporters were murdered by Zanu PF supporters and security agents during the violent 2008 elections in an effort to keep Mugabe in power.
The security sector has denied the allegations.
