Mutasa defends partisan army

Politics
Zanu PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa has said service chiefs have a right to openly support Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe .

MUTARE — Zanu PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa has said service chiefs have a right to openly support Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe because they fought together in the liberation struggle.

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Mutasa told journalists in Mutare recently that nothing was wrong in service chiefs being partisan.

“The fact that they fought the war under Zanu PF means that they belong to Zanu PF and they have a duty to protect a leader of their choice and in this case, it is President Robert Mugabe,” he said. Mutasa said service chiefs and Mugabe were together in the trenches during the war of liberation.

He said security sector reforms being called for by the two MDCs were meant to weaken the armed forces.

Mutasa said Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had no right to call for security sector reforms, claiming that he had done nothing tangible for the country.

“He never went to war and he does not know anything about the liberation struggle, but he is calling for the reform of the security sector,” he said. “We know that the MDC-T is an agent of the West. We will not dance to the tune of America and Britain that is calling for the reformation of the security sector.”

Tsvangirai is insisting that elections should not be held before the implementation of security sector reforms. He was recently on a regional offensive meant to garner support for a special Sadc summit to deal with the Zimbabwean crisis.

But Zanu PF has insisted that security sector reforms would not be entertained. Defence minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa and State Security minister Sydney Sekeramayi recently claimed that parties pushing for reforms were driven by regime change motives.

Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, General Constantine Chiwenga recently told the state media that Tsvangirai was a “psychiatric case”, vowing that service chiefs would never hold private meetings with the PM.

Service chiefs have in the past vowed that they would not salute Tsvangirai, even if he wins a Presidential election.

Related Topics