Zimbabwe: Disgruntled Soldiers Heckle Army Commander
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SW Radio Africa (London)
5 September 2008
Posted to the web 6 September 2008
Tichaona Sibanda
The head of the Zimbabwe National Army, Lieutenant General Phillip Sibanda was on Wednesday reportedly heckled by soldiers from the Presidential Guard over the regime's failure to pay them top-up salaries.
The army commander reportedly went around army barracks in a bid to quell soldiers' expectations of a second salary, citing lack of funds by government. The independent radio station, the Voice of the People reported that Sibanda visited One Presidential Guard in Harare on Wednesday to brief them on how government was struggling to pay their salaries.
'Sibanda's address was in response to rumours that soldiers were supposed to be given another salary this week so that they could settle their children's school fees. The army commander said there was no money to give soldiers this week, and that the soldiers would only get paid on the 15th,' according to RadioVOP.
The station quotes a soldier saying junior and senior soldiers, some of them war veterans could not hide their anger during the address and went as far as to say 'Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader was better.' It's an open secret that the Commander-In-Chief of the defence forces, Robert Mugabe is unpopular among the rank and file of the country's security forces. In February he was forced to award huge pay rises to the army ahead of the harmonised elections in a bid to calm the restless military members.
Isaac Dziya, a retired assistant police commissioner, said the regime, which has a regular army of 35 000, is facing massive food shortages in military barracks.
"Soldiers are human beings just like you and me. They need to eat. They need money for school fees and they also need to lead ordinary lives like everyone else. But the problem is, only the senior officers are benefiting from the patronage system that has been used to great effect by Mugabe," Dziya said.
He said Mugabe is known to pacify soldiers whenever they become agitated by poor working conditions and low salaries. The army is a pillar of strength in Mugabe's embattled regime. Last month, the commanders who led his violent re-election campaign took delivery of all-terrain luxury vehicles, at a time when millions of Zimbabweans face starvation.
Top security chiefs have pledged their undying loyalty to Mugabe, and have prevented Tsvangirai from taking power after being cheated out of victory over ZANU PF on at least two occasions. There is a public perception that Zimbabwe is now effectively under the control of the army, which masterminded his political survival after his shock defeat in March this year. Mugabe lost the ballot to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai during the first round of elections on March 29 this year.
Read comments. Write your own.
And so it begins.........
ZANU-PF/Mugabe have now run out of funds to pay their soldiers! The last remaining bulwark of tyranny in Zimbabwe is starting to collapse out from under the weight of the economic calamity ZANU-PF/Mugabe have wrought on the people of Zimbabwe.
All MDC-T needs to do at this point is stall for time. Mbeki can't deliver them anything, he certainly can't do anything to further prop up the rotting ZANU-PF from his position. Despite the writing on the wall, ZANU-PF/Mugabe and his enabler, Thabo Mbeki don't have the tools or cash to revive Zimbabwe.
Mbeki… [Read Full Text]
I hope this story is correct. I am tired of these Zim soldiers who act as if they have no blood in their veins. What good has Mugabe done to them to the extent of killing and maiming their relatives to keep him in power. Our soldiers should have common sense. They are human too. But I think in as much as I want the report to be true, it can not be true. It can only be false. Masoja akapfuhwirwa naMugabe angove madandara.
The problem I have about the Zimbabwe issue and all the solutions they are seeking are negociated by and for the three SHONA guys(robert,morgan & arther)who all have 2ic's legit to be in the negociations for there pple from where they originate.You see what these pple are trying to do is way too hard because working out this grand agreement inside other agreement is what is complicated.
Nkisela should stop tribalising national issues. How does he know that the three political leaders are indeed Shona. Speaking Shona doesn't make one Shona. Shona is just a language. Nkisela could be Shona himself. Isn't it true that when Mzilikazi and his Khumalo people arrived in Matebeleland from Zululand in the early 1800s they found local people in the area who were Shona speakers. Nkisela could be a discendant of these Shona speakers Mzilikazi found in Matebeleland.
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Soldiers and police personnel would be the biggest threat to an MDC-led government in its efforts to restore sanity in the country!
The mind of these guys have been conditioned by Mugabe cronies to live with lies, corrupt practices, indifference to the respect of the rule of law, ignorance towards public service, violence-prone, etc. They need to go through a very serious re-education programme in order to enable them to function again as normal citizens at the service of a nation than at that of a monstrous dictator!
A daunting task indeed.
What will the millions of Zimbabweans in exile… [Read Full Text]