By Prof. Jonathan Moyo

WHILE political dilettantes in the incompetent ruling Zanu PF and the impotent MDC are busy falling on each other over the irrelevant forthcoming Senate elections which have no national purpose beyond the sunset politics of Robert Mugabe’s succession, Zimbabweans now have every reason to demand early presidential elections. Forget Senate elections.



This follows the startling official confirmation this week by the Herald that the evil Operation Murambatsvina which destroyed the homes or livelihoods of 18% of the Zimbabwean population was a ferocious military operation orchestrated and led by a panicky Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) with the exclusive knowledge and approval of President Robert Mugabe outside the normal channels and process of constitutional government.

If there were any doubting Thomasses, the evidence is now all out, thanks to the Herald, that the so-called Operation Murambatsvina was in fact a mini-Gukurahundi in terms of how it was planned, who planned it, who authorized it, how it was implemented, and the social and political consequences of its implementation. What was confirmed by the Herald this week in an authoritative and apparently planted feature story written by Baffour Ankomah, the pan Africanist editor of New African magazine who was in Zimbabwe last August for the umpteenth time as an official guest of the Zanu PF government with all expenses paid for through the Ministry of Information and Publicity, is that the planning, authorization and execution of Operation Murambatsvina, particularly the key role played by the CIO, had all the trappings of Gukurahundi.

If there is any difference worthy of note in terms of the consequences of the two dastardly operations, it is only that whereas Gukurahundi destroyed not just the homes and livelihoods of over 25% of the population but also killed more than 20 000 Zimbabweans; the evil Operation Murambatsvina targeted homes and livelihoods although there were some recorded deaths occurring due to either criminal negligence of government officials or accidents.

But more to the point that shocks to the bone and sends the shivers down the spine of anyone who has read the Herald confirmation, there are striking similarities between the motive behind the two operations and the institutional home of the key actors involved. In the case of Gukurahundi, the motive was to nip in the bud alleged Zapu dissidents who allegedly wanted a change of government and this was done by terrorizing the presumed power base of the alleged Zapu dissidents among the masses while in the case of Murambatsvina the motive was to nip in the bud alleged MDC activists who were allegedly pursuing a Ukrainian style “orange revolution” against the Zanu PF government and this was done by terrorizing slum dwellers and informal sector traders whom the CIO presumed to be the cannon fodder and power base of MDC activists who allegedly wanted Mugabe to go out the Ukrainian way.

In both cases, the CIO led the terror. Also in both cases, the victims were ordinary people who have every reason and right to expect and receive protection and not terror from the government. Still in both cases, the CIO got the authority to terrorize the people from Robert Mugabe in the first case as Prime Minister and in the second as President.

According to the Herald confirmation of who was behind the evil Operation Murambatsvina, the CIO “panicked” and “chose to deal with it (the situation) in an unusual way…by the demolition of habitats” of slum dwellers and informal sector traders. The reference to a “panicky” response is telling not least because it contradicts the Herald claim in the same article that the CIO is one of the best spy agencies in the world when even average fools know that it is unprofessional for any spy agency to undertake a major national operation on the basis of panicking. Cowards and criminals panic, especially when they are caught with their pants down, not professionals.

The Herald article confirms that after they panicked, the CIO elements running the operation “quickly got hold of the President (Mugabe) and showed him the evidence of the anger (of the people) and sold him the hasty solution”. There are two important points to note here, the first is that Mugabe was shown the evidence of people’s anger, yes nothing else but people’s anger; and the second is that he was sold a hasty solution to demolish the homes and livelihoods of some 18% of Zimbabweans whose only crime was to be presumed to be angry by the panicking CIO.

While the fact that the CIO acted in this way, as narrated by the Herald confirmation, is bad what is worse is that President Mugabe who has a constitutional responsibility to know and do better accepted the hasty solution and authorized its implementation without going through the normal route of Cabinet discussion and approval.

Commenting authoritatively on this shocking dereliction of constitutional duty and obligation by President Mugabe, the Herald article observed that “many cabinet ministers and key Government officials who would have normally been privy to such an operation were kept in the dark. Some in fact, heard about it (the operation) a day after it had begun. In doing so, a lot of mistakes were made in the implementation of the operation”

As if this was not enough, the Herald article went on to make the following observation whose ghastly implications speak volumes about the collapse of constitutional governance in Zimbabwe. “The normal civil service scrutiny was dispensed with (meaning that the security services took over civic matters).

“In normal times, as happened during the land reform program, the civil services would have been tasked to write papers looking at the pros and cons of the operation, the relevant local and international laws governing the area, the provision of alternative accommodation and stalls, the financial cost, the international repercussions, and so on, before the operation could get Cabinet approval. In this case, as the security services drove the operation, all elaborately laid down procedures were short-circuited, and in the process serious errors were made, leading to international outcry and condemnation”.

This confirmation by the Herald, which cannot publish such damning evidence, without official sanction either by the Ministry of Information and Publicity or by the CIO itself, raises fundamental questions not only about the evil operation itself but, more importantly, about why President Mugabe misled the nation by falsely claiming that the operation’s objectives were about good habitat and that the operation had been planned the previous year and a decision had been taken to do it after the March 31 parliamentary elections.
"The CIO today has slipped back into a partisan organization deeply anchored in Zanu PF’s sunset politics. This is the worst thing that can happen in any constitutional democracy"
PROF JONATHAN MOYO

This writer tabled a motion in Parliament noting the findings of the United Nations report on the operation and calling on government to institute a commission of inquiry to identify and punish those behind the unconstitutional and illegal consequences of the operation and calling on government to compensate the victims of the operation who constitute 18% of the population and to secure their immediate and long term welfare.

The Zanu PF leader of the House, Patrick Chinamasa, lied through his teeth during the debate, denying that the operation had been implemented in a military style as confirmed by the Herald article. Several government ministers and Zanu PF backbenchers took the floor to mislead not just the House but also the nation claiming that the operation had been part of the Zanu PF election manifesto and that its purpose was to rid Zimbabwean cities of slums.

But now the evidence is out through the pages of the Herald and it is quite clear that the operation was the brainchild of the CIO, not Zanu PF (unless of course if the difference is the same). It is now clear that the CIO gave President Mugabe a hasty solution and he authorized it outside the normal channels of constitutional government without reference to the Cabinet and civil service.

The only other known terrible incident of such unconstitutional behavior by Mugabe and the CIO is Gukurahundi and that’s why comparisons between Gukurahundi and Operation Murambatsvina are unavoidable. Obviously neither Mugabe nor the CIO have learnt anything from the dark days of Gukurahundi not least because they have not accepted any responsibility or done anything meaningful to deal with that sad past.

It is a fact of life that those who do not learn from the tragedy of history are bound to repeat it. Mugabe and the CIO are repeating tragic history because both do not see themselves as accountable to the Constitution, the laws of Zimbabweans or the people of Zimbabwe. They are able to sit together and agree on an evil operation that leaves some 18% of the population destitute because they see themselves as the law itself.

Putting aside other critical constitutional and legal ramifications of this shocking confirmation of CIO involvement in Operation Murambatsvina, it is quite clear from the evidence given by the Herald for the first time to Zimbabweans that President Mugabe has mutilated his oath to uphold the Constitution and laws of Zimbabwe and has lost the political and moral authority to govern. For this reason, the constitutional and legal proper thing for President Mugabe to do is to resign now and let Zimbabweans have early presidential elections.

The bottomline from this confirmation published by the Herald is that President Mugabe acted unilaterally not only without reference to the Cabinet but also in total disregard of the Constitution and laws of Zimbabwe. This unilateral, unconstitutional and illegal action directly affected at least 700,000 Zimbabweans whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed and indirectly affected a further 2,5million whose livelihoods were shattered. An overwhelming majority of these Zimbabweans have been so dispersed as to be unaccounted for and thus are now beyond the reach of welfare assistance.

In a constitutional democracy, which Zimbabwe is supposed to be, when a President acts unilaterally and illegally or in a manner through which his actions have unconstitutional or illegal consequences to the extent of rendering destitute 18% of the population, then that President must face the music from the people.

Obviously, all can see that the one time when President Mugabe is given to acting unconstitutionally and illegally is when Zanu PF commands the majority in Parliament. Gukurahundi was made possible not just by Zanu PF numbers in Parliament but also because the Rhodesian State of Emergency remained in force in independent Zimbabwe between 1980 and 1990. Mugabe and the CIO used this brutal fact to the detriment of human rights in Zimbabwe and this is a fact that cannot be denied even by Zanu PF diehards who see no evil, feel no evil and hear no evil.

Now Mugabe and the CIO are once again in the mode of visiting terror upon Zimbabweans because they feel that they have the cushion of Zanu PF’s technical two thirds majority in Parliament which was obtained outside the electoral process. Whereas civilized people would have expected Mugabe and the CIO to use Zanu PF’s two thirds to expand and enhance constitutional governance and democratic practice, we now can all see that this two thirds thing is in fact not an anti-Blair thing as Mugabe claimed it was during the campaign for the March 31, parliamentary elections but is an anti-the-people of Zimbabwe thing.

So next time, when you see or hear Patrick Chinamasa waving some stupid proposed constitutional amendment and being gleeful about Zanu PF’s technical two thirds in Parliament with the excitement of a child who has been given a toy for the first time, remember that he would be pushing an agenda that is anti-people by definition.

The abuse of the Zanu PF technical two thirds is certain to get worse by spreading and deepening in the days ahead as the CIO and Mugabe panic some more. The more they fail to handle squabbles around Mugabe’s succession, which squabbles are going to get violent, the more they will trample on the rights of Zimbabweans as individuals, groups, organizations, businesses and communities. They will do this without reference to the normal channels of constitutional government, as demonstrated by the behavior during the evil Operation Murambatsvina, yet and rather ironically their evil deeds will be based on their belief that they will be covered by the Zanu PF technical two thirds majority in Parliament.

Make no mistake about it, there is no way anything like Operation Murambatsvina would have been attempted if Zanu PF did not have a technical two thirds majority in Parliament. This leads to an obvious question: Are Zanu PF members, who also must have been affected by the evil Operation Murambatsvina in one way or another, prepared to continue giving technical cover to the CIO and Mugabe against Zimbabweans with the consequence of destroying Zimbabwe? Do ordinary, normal people in Zanu PF, including Honourable Members of Parliament, really support this kind of behavior by Mugabe and the CIO? The same kind of behavior that unleashed Gukurahundi in the 1980s and Operation Murambatsvina only five months ago?

While Zanu PF members ponder these questions, the rest of us cannot continue standing by still and idle when our country burns from the fires of Mugabe and the CIO. The confirmation by the Herald that Operation Murambatsvina was the brainchild of the CIO which hatched a hasty barbaric solution that was only sold to Mugabe who authorized it without reference to the normal channels of constitutional government is enough for Zimbabweans to demand that Mugabe must go with his CIO in the national interest.

The CIO today has slipped back into a partisan organization deeply anchored in Zanu PF’s sunset politics. This is the worst thing that can happen in any constitutional democracy: having the national security services stooping low to the gutter party political squabbles, becoming part of party political factions and losing the focus and grip on real national security issues. The idea that anyone who opposes Zanu PF or Mugabe is a threat to national security is idiotic particularly these days when the most serious threat to national security comes from Zanu PF and its clueless leadership that is looking east at sunset just before darkness.

Zimbabweans deserve a President who acts in terms of the Constitution and always has an eye to the national interest and they deserve a national intelligence authority that is above party politics.

The best way of doing that is by having early presidential elections. In Zimbabwe, there cannot be a change of government through Parliamentary or Senate elections. A change of government is possible in Zimbabwe only through presidential elections. Mugabe and the CIO know this and that’s why they are using, in fact abusing Patrick Chinamasa, to push for constitutional amendments that will provide for the election of the next President in 2008 by Parliament (using Zanu PF’s technical two thirds) under the silly excuse that we should harmonize presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010.

We must use the people’s three thirds outside parliament to stop the madness by any means necessary. When a government uses security forces to operate outside the Constitution and the laws of the land, as clearly happened in the formulation and implementation of Operation Murambatsvina, the people have a natural and inalienable right to rise up against that government. The starting point is to demand early presidential elections which Mugabe and his CIO are afraid of because they know they cannot win them.

Mugabe and the CIO are hallucinating if they imagine that they can demolish people’s homes and livelihoods, ransack businesses, turn some of Zimbabwe’s best brains into either fugitives or refugees and take over privately owned newspapers and directly run the public media all in the hope that somehow Zimbabweans will submit themselves as happy slaves. Something will have to give and history tells us that the people always triumph and all indications are that Zimbabweans are prepared to fight the Last Chimurenga.