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Army Riots Escalate Zimbabwe Crisis
By Mxolisi Ncube -- Used with the permission of World Politics Review, www.worldpoliticsreview.com
| Last updated: |
Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:43:00 +0000 |
(World Politics Review) -- JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Zimbabwe's multifaceted crisis took a turn for the worse late last month when disgruntled members of the usually loyal Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) went on a six-day rampage, beating people, looting shops and clashing with anti-riot police in the capital city of Harare.
More than 150 soldiers, some of them members of President Robert Mugabe's Presidential Guard, sang revolutionary songs denouncing the octogenarian leader during the rampage, raising fears of an uprising.
"The situation looked out of control," said a Harare lawyer who came face to face with the disturbances. "The soldiers beat up riot police, threw stones everywhere and looted shops in full view of the public. They told people that they wanted to correct things and that it was time for Mugabe to be toppled. I shudder to think what would have happened had those soldiers been armed."
The soldiers, notorious for brutally crushing any civil unrest directed at Mugabe's government, first rioted on Nov. 27, after they were unable to withdraw their pay from banks due to a serious liquidity crunch, a result of the country's hyper-inflation. They went on to beat up and rob parallel market foreign currency dealers, whom they accused of hording cash on behalf of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, and other government ministers.
The situation spiraled further out of control a few days later, when the soldiers looted shops and beat up anti-riot police trying to bring them to order, injuring about 20 police officers during the clashes.
Fears now abound that the riots might be a foreshadowing of worse to come in the next few months, as the socioeconomic crisis continues to worsen. An Army major based at the Army's headquarters, who agreed to speak with World Politics Review on condition of anonymity, gave credence to those fears this week.
"The riots were supposed to take place in every city in the country," he maintained, "but flopped due to a breakdown of communication. It is time to tell Mugabe that his time is up and that he should leave office."
Political analysts have warned that the situation in the country might become unmanageable if the uniformed personnel began siding with civilians.
"We are headed for even tougher times. . . . I cannot foresee a peaceful resolution to the Zimbabwean crisis. Things will continue to worsen and what might follow now is a civil war," said Johannesburg-based Professor Brain Raftopolous, a political analyst and former lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.
Analysts suggest that the army riots might lead to two possible scenarios as the Zimbabwean crisis unfolds.
"With his power base shaken, Mugabe will hopefully realize that his hold on the country has weakened and retire," said a Harare-based political commentator, Lovemore Madhuku.
An army corporal recently told a privately owned South African television channel that if the opposition or anyone called for the army's backing to topple Mugabe, most of the junior officers and their subordinates would "jump at the opportunity" to fight the 84-year-old leader.
"His time is up and we are all fed up with him. We need someone to organize us into that uprising. Mugabe must go," said the corporal.
However, Raftopolous warned that Mugabe might use the volatile security situation, along with the recent riots and outside pressure, to tighten his hold on power.
"This might just be what Mugabe needs to strengthen his grip on Zimbabwe. He might declare a state of emergency and perpetrate further human rights abuses," he said.
Delays in forming a unity government between Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have also stoked tensions in a country, as Mugabe accuses the opposition party of working with the West, especially Britain, to topple him.
Last week, government spokesman George Charamba accused Britain of trying to use the cholera epidemic, which has killed close to 1,000 Zimbabweans and affected 16,000 others, as an excuse for the former colonial power to invade Zimbabwe.
Further complicating the picture, abductions of 18 MDC officials and three human rights activists followed the accusations. Zimbabwe Peace Project National Director Jestina Mukoko and her colleagues, Broderick Takawira and Pascal Gonzo, were abducted separately last week by armed men and have not been seen since.
Police claim they have so far been unable to find them or their abductors, despite a High Court order to do so.
Mxolisi Ncube is an exiled Zimbabwean freelance journalist based in Johannesburg, covering politics and human rights. He used to report for the Zimbabwean, a privately owned weekly newspaper, and various political Web sites both locally and abroad, until fleeing government persecution in August.
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