Zimbabwe army chief criticizes infighting in ruling party
Zimbabwe’s army commander Monday criticized the instability in the
country’s ruling party caused by President Robert Mugabe who last week
fired a vice president.
Zimbabwe Defense Forces commander
Constantine Chiwenga issued a written statement, days after Mugabe fired
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was widely backed by the army
and was once viewed as a potential successor to the president.
Mnangagwa’s
sacking opens the way for Mugabe’s wife, Grace, to be named a vice
president at a special conference of the ruling party, ZANU-PF, in
December.
Chiwenga said “instability” in the ruling party had
caused “distress, trepidation and despondence.”
He accused the party of
expelling senior officials who participated in the 1970s war against
white-minority ruled Rhodesia, saying “counter revolutionaries” are
plotting to destroy the party.
First lady Grace Mugabe is known
as a leader of a group of party officials known as the Generation 40 or
G40 because many of them are in their 40s and 50s and are too young to
have participated in Zimbabwe’s independence war. The faction has
reportedly in the past week drawn up a list of dozens of top party
officials whom they want expelled or suspended from the party.
“The current purging and cleansing process in ZANU-PF which so far is
targeting mostly members associated with our liberation history is a
serious cause for concern for us in the defense forces,” said Chiwenga,
at a press conference, reading from his statement. “We must remind those
behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to
matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to
step in. The current purging of which is clearly targeting members of
the party with a liberation background must stop forthwith.”
This
is the first time Zimbabwe’s military has directly criticized the
infighting in ZANU-PF and marks a rift between Mugabe and an institution
that has been a key pillar of his power.
Chiwenga did not state
what action the military would take but said the defense forces
“strongly urge the party to stop the reckless utterances by politicians
from the ruling party denigrating the military which is causing alarm
and despondency within the rank and file.”
Grace Mugabe has previously criticized Chiwenga for allegedly using
Mugabe’s name to handpick a war veterans’ leader, Chris Mutsvangwa, who
has become a vocal critic of the president and a supporter of the fired
vice president.
Mugabe has also in the past warned military commanders from interfering in ZANU-PF succession politics.
“Politics shall always lead the gun and not the gun politics. Otherwise
it will be a coup,” Mugabe told his supporters in July amid speculation
at that time the military supported Mnangagwa to take over from him.
Mugabe
and ZANU-PF have ruled this once prosperous but now economically
troubled southern African country since independence from white minority
rule in 1980. Most of the military commanders participated in the
independence war.
Source: washingtonpost
No comments
Your comments and Encouragement are welcome