Army General Gets Into Trouble

Financial Gazette (Harare)

Njabulo Ncube

18 July 2011

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) has lodged a formal complaint with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) against Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, who rattled the unity government recently by declaring that the uniformed forces would not accept an MDC-T election victory.

Nyikayaramba, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Battalion based in Manicaland, ruffled feathers last month after he twice publicly stated that the army generals want President Robert Mugabe to rule the country for life and that Prime Minister Tsvangirai, who poses the greatest challenge to ZANU-PF’s uninterrupted rule, was not a suitable candidate to succeed the veteran nationalist as the next President of the republic.

MDC-T secretary-general, Tendai Biti, wrote to the national director of JOMIC, Patience Chiradza, last week raising concerns over Nyikayaramba’s statements.

In his letter dated July 5, 2011, Biti said the MDC-T was greatly concerned about Nyikayaramba’s utterances.

He said the utterances were in breach of the Constitution, the Defence Act and more importantly, civilian authority in Zimbabwe.

“We shall be pleased as a party to know what actions are being taken to arrest these sad developments,” Biti wrote.

By referring the matter to JOMIC, it would appear that the MDC-T has started escalating the issue to the facilitator in the Zimbabwe crisis, South African President Jacob Zuma.

South Africa, which is at the centre of mediating in the Zimbabwe dialogue, rarely responds to issues coming out of the media and prefers tackling issues raised through official channels.

While JOMIC is not taken seriously by ZANU-PF, the dominant partner in the coalition, it acts as the sounding board for Zuma’s facilitation team.

JOMIC was established under Article XXII of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed between ZANU-PF and the two formations of the MDC. The other MDC formation is led by Welshman Ncube.

JOMIC, which is battling public perception that it is a toothless bulldog, is composed of 12 senior members drawn from the three partners in the GPA. Apart from ensuring the implementation of the power-sharing pact, JOMIC is also charged with receiving reports and complaints in respect of any issues related to the implementation, enforcement and execution of the GPA as well as serving as a catalyst in creating and promoting an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding between the three political parties.

Officials at JOMIC this week confirmed receipt of Biti’s letter, but were still to respond to it.

Nyikayaramba’s statements have worsened the friction within the government of national unity.

The MDC formations have latched onto the statements to aggressively push for security sector reforms citing the alleged complicity of State security agents, including alleged members of the army, in State-sponsored violence.

But President Mugabe and ZANU-PF have vehemently oppo-sed any security sector reforms, claiming that meddling with armed forces posed a serious threat to national security.

Of late, Nyikayaramba has however, proved not to be entirely indispensable.

Recently, he was kicked out of the Parliamentary Constitutional Select Committee where he was participating as a ZANU-PF technical advisor in the Thematic Committee on Elections.

He joined the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) in 1980 as a lieutenant and has risen through the ranks.

He is also a member of the provincial Joint Operations Com-mand.

The Brigadier-General has held various appointments and assignments among which was chairperson of the Troika (Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe) Strategic Planning Group in Lesotho, and member of the National Field Taskforce and chairperson of the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe Logistics Planning team.

He was also the first chief elections officer of the Electoral Supervisory Commission (2002-2003), board member of the African Elections Authorities (2002-2003) and a member of the Elections Commission Forum of Southern Africa (2002-2003).

In the military, he was Directing Staff (Lecturer) at the Zimbabwe Staff College Senior Division (1991-1994); the first director Defence Policy in the Ministry of Defence (1995-1997); Comma-ndant of Zimbabwe Military Academy (1997-1999); deputy director, Army Training (1997-2000); and Brigadier-General, Administration Staff at Army Headquarters (2000-2005) before he assumed the post of chairperson of the National Railways of Zimbabwe board.

In his letter to JOMIC, Biti quoted Nyikayaramba as having told a local weekly newspaper that:

“The President cannot be removed because he is irreplaceable like a father in a family .â-à.â-à. until your father dies, only then can you have a stepfather – that is that .â-à.â-à. Truly speaking, I am ZANU-PF and ZANU-PF is in me and you can’t change that .â-à.â-à.

“I am sure everyone, including yourself, has now woken up to realise that he (Tsvangirai) is not the right candidate .â-à.â-à. The bottom line is that I will not surrender; I will not salute someone like that personally .â-à.â-à. What he (Tsvangirai) is saying is nonsense. We are dealing with a national security threat .â-à.â-à.”

He also quoted Nyikayaramba as having told a State daily newspaper that:

“Tsvangirai doesn’t pose a political threat in any way in Zimbabwe, but a major security threat. He takes instructions from foreigners who seek to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe. If his party was a genuine independent political party, we wouldn’t be involved .â-à.â-à. They have said they want to destroy ZANU-PF from within, so we should be vigilant .â-à.â-à.”

“President Mugabe will only leave office if he sees fit or dies. No one shall talk about his departure at the moment .â-à.â-à. We will die for him to make sure he remains in power. We are prepared to stand by our Commander-in-Chief. Soldiers are not going to sit back and watch, while foreign forces want to attack us.”

Last month, the MDC-T accused Nyikayaramba of arrogating himself the position of spokesperson of the ZNA.

The MDC-T said Nyikaya-ramba’s statements were not consistent with the role that armed forces should play in a modern democracy, adding that his conduct was meant to incite security forces to turn against the people of Zimbabwe.

Relations between State security agents and the MDC-T leader took a turn for the worst during Tsvangirai’s days as a trade unionist.

He has survived at least three assassination attempts, including one in 1997 where unknown assailants burst into his 10th storey Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions office then and tried to throw him out of the window.

After the 2000 elections, he was arrested and charged with treason; this charge was later dismissed.

In 2004, Tsvangirai was acquitted of treason for an alleged plot to assassinate President Mugabe in the run-up to the 2002 Presidential elections.

Barely three years ago, the former trade unionist was brutally assaulted by the police who left him for dead at a prayer meeting in Highfield, Harare.

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