Mugabe bullied by generals to cling to power
By Admore Tshuma in Britain
PRESIDENT Mugabe was stopped from handing over power to the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai by five of his security forces commanders, highly placed military sources in Harare, have said.
The usually reliable sources who emphasised anonymity in fear of reprisals said “the old man actually conceded defeat and was ready to help with the transition of power”.
Despite failure by Mr Tsvangirai to reach the 50 percent mark, President Mugabe is reported to have admitted that he was no longer electable after he learnt that he had lost both the presidential and parliamentary polls to the oppositon.
Soon after the March 29 harmonised election results were relayed to President Mugabe, they said, he immidiatley sanctioned transitional talks with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) aimed at handing over power to its victorious leader Morgan Tsvangirai. However, the talks broke down because Mr Mugabe was reprimanded by five of his security forces commanders over his decision to concede defeat.
They are Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, Airforce Commander Perence Shiri, Defence Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga, Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organisation Retired Major-General Happyton Bonyongwe and Zimbabwe Prisons Services boss Paradzai Zimondi, the sources said.
Tsvangirai recently confirmed the high profile secret negotiations between ZANU-PF and MDC in a BBC Panorama interview. The talks were meant to oversee a smooth transition of power soon after it was known to Mr Mugabe that he had lost the elections irretrievably.
What troubled President Mugabe was not only the outcome of the historically shielded presidential results but the idea of losing control of the parliament for the first time since independence of Zimbabwe in 1980. He made up his mind to throw in the towel and went further to inform his close allies, the sources said.
Speaking by a cell phone from Manyame Airforce base, Zimbabwe’s air force headquarters in the capital, Harare, the source said President Mugabe was now “a reluctant leader” being puppeteered by his army generals.
“The security forces commanders are very bitter that President Mugabe hammered out his exit package without including them. Now they can only let it go if there is something tangible for them in terms of immunity from prosecution,” the source said.
It was also revealed that an exit package for the veteran leader was finalised last year in November between South African leader and the MDC leadership in the event of any eventuality.
The source claimed that as soon as President Mugabe was informed by the intelligence that ZANU-Pf has performed dismally against the MDC, he conceded defeat and informed his close lieutenants that he would give way for the new political dispensation. The president, the sources said, was particularly angry with war veterans commanders, Jabulani Sibanda and Joseph Chinotimba for misleading him about his popularity through the so-called “million-men march”. Mr Mugabe is reported to have severed direct communications with Sibanda and Chinotimba in anger.
However, what changed the political environment were the five security commanders who confronted Mr Mugabe about their welfare in the perceived Tsvangirai government.
“Chihuri told Mugabe that we killed to perpetuate your rule, but now you are privately negotiating your own exit package alone why? Shiri also ordered the president not to abdicate power until the environment was safe for them,” the source said.
It was also alleged that, the five threatened a coup in the event Mr Mugabe defies them by stepping down. They believe a coup was the only way for their safety and freedom in regard to gross human rights violations they have committed for years under the Mugabe regime.
For example, Shiri stand accused of not only founding the murderous 5 Brigade, but for also personally commandeering the brigade that left approximately 20 000 Ndebele speaking people dead and hundreds more maimed and orphaned.
The 5 brigade left a trail murder and a legacy of tribal divisions, a crime prosecutable at The Hague under the 1949 Geneva Conventional Additional Protocol of 1977, Article 51. The article states that when a government send an army to a troubled spot within the country and then that army happen to target civilians, the entire government has committed prosecutable crimes.
During the run-up to the disputable elections, General Constantine Chiwenga threatened to stage a coup if Mugabe lost the forthcoming elections because, he said, the army would not support an opposition-led government.
"Elections are coming and the army will not support or salute sell-outs and agents of the West before, during and after the presidential elections," said Chiwenga.
Chiwenga has his muzzle so deep in the feeding trough that, when questioned about the role of the army in protecting a democracy, he burst out, "Are you mad? What is wrong with the army supporting the President against the election of sell-outs?"
Such comments can only be interpreted as Mugabe's government is nothing less than organised crime.
Retired major and now Zimbabwe Prisons Service chief, vowed that he would resign and 'go back to defend my piece of land' if Mugabe lost the election. He ordered his officers to vote for Mugabe. Is that democracy?
"I am giving you an order to vote for the President," Zimondi said at a ceremony at which he was conferring new ranks on senior officers, raising questions whether the promotions were rewards for the expected votes.
Last week, the US State Department backed comments by its top Africa official asserting that Zimbabwe opposition leader Tsvangirai had won the presidential election.
"I'll just say that there is clearly a vote for change there and there are a lot of indications that he may well have won," said State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack.
He would not go as far as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who commented on the election during a visit to SA.
"We think in this situation we have a clear victor: Morgan Tsvangirai won, and perhaps outright," she said.
Nearly four weeks after the elections, the presidential results have not been published and a partial recount of the parliamentary elections continues.
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