Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is considering a tough security plan that could see the troubled Southern African country placed under a state of emergency within the coming month, independent news service ZimOnline reported on Tuesday.
The country is on a knife-edge following violent protests by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and civic groups over the past month that have left at least one person dead.
The political tensions increased last weekend with the arrest and alleged torture of opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, as well as National Constitutional Assembly chairperson Lovemore Madhuku, among others.
Tsvangirai and Madhuku and several other leaders were heavily assaulted and allegedly tortured while in police custody after they called a prayer rally in Harare’s Highfield suburb in defiance of a police ban on rallies and demonstrations imposed last month.
At a meeting at Mugabe’s Munhumutapa offices in Harare last Thursday, the president is said to have pushed for the immediate declaration of a state of emergency that would give the state extra powers to effect mass jailing of his opponents without trial.
Our sources said Mugabe was, however, dissuaded from taking that route by his security chiefs, who felt the action would be too drastic and send the wrong signals to the international community.
Defence forces chief Constantine Chiwenga, Air Force of Zimbabwe boss Perence Shiri, army commander Phillip Sibanda, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and Vice-President Joseph Msika all attended the meeting that stretched well into the night, according to the source.
The security ministers are said to have told Mugabe to use ”maximum force without officially declaring a state of emergency” against the MDC and civic groups that are demanding political reforms, saying Zimbabwe would be viewed as unstable even by fellow African countries if it declared a state of emergency.
Mugabe, however, insisted that a state of emergency remained an option and said he would monitor the situation for a month before deciding the next course of action.
Security plan
At the same meeting, Mugabe appointed State Security Minister and trusted confidante Didymus Mutasa to oversee an elaborate security plan designed to counter opposition protests against his rule. Under the plan, the army and the police would, with immediate effect, establish an active reserve force to deal with imminent opposition protests.
”Part of it [the security plan] would see the boosting of police and military numbers through the immediate injection of manpower. Mugabe has made Mutasa his point man on this,” said the source.
Contacted for comment on Tuesday, Mutasa said: ”As security minister, obviously my main concern would be to ensure that security prevails. Measures would be taken at appropriate times in response to appropriate situations. One thing for sure, we will use any instrument necessary to maintain peace and security. We don’t want to be another Somalia.”
There are fears within the government that the current wave of opposition protests could easily turn into a fully fledged rebellion against Mugabe, whom they accuse of plunging the Southern African country into unprecedented economic turmoil.
Opponents of the 83-year-old Mugabe blame him for acute food shortages, inflation of about 1 600% — the highest in the world — and repression and corruption. They have demanded the ouster of Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s only ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.
Tsvangirai in court
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai and 49 other opposition activists — many of them bandaged and bruised — appeared in court in Harare on Tuesday, two days after they were arrested. Many members of the group arrived singing and chanting in a large police truck amid a heavy police presence, but Tsvangirai was silent.
The opposition leader had a large gash on his head with about 10 stitches, and a badly swollen face and eyes.
”The police assaulted defenceless civilians, but the struggle continues,” Tsvangirai said in brief comments to reporters as he was led from the courthouse into a police van that ferried him for medical treatment. He and other activists were given clearance to receive hospital treatment after appearing in the dock.
The activists’ lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said no charges were immediately laid and the state prosecutor had no instructions. She said legal representatives were on their way to the office of the Attorney General to learn whether the activists would be released.
Late on Monday, High Court Judge Chinemberi Bhunu had ordered police to allow Tsvangirai and others to receive immediate medical treatment and access to their lawyers.
Bhunu said that if police refused to comply with his ruling, he wanted to see the prisoners in his court by 8am local time. He also ordered they be charged or released by noon on Tuesday. Instead, they were brought to court hours after Bhunu’s deadline.
Lawyers had said earlier that police did not allow the medical care and legal advice Bhunu had ordered.
Doctors for Human Rights said in statement that at least 20 people were in urgent need of medical attention, including Tsvangirai, after Sunday’s unrest. The United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, told the BBC that a local civil rights activist was permitted to see Tsvangirai on Tuesday and reported that he was in ”very grave condition”.
On Sunday, one opposition activist, Gift Tandare, was shot dead in unrest surrounding the prayer meeting. Two mourners were slightly injured on Tuesday at his funeral in skirmishes with police.
As the clampdown continued, police raided the main office of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. ”Staff were harassed, threatened, some were slapped and beaten up. All offices were searched and flyers, files and some video tapes were seized,” the union said in a statement.
It said its financial administrator, Galileo Chirebvu, was taken away by police who had a search warrant and said they were looking for ”subversive material”.
Criticism
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has added her voice to mounting international criticism of Zimbabwean authorities. ”This form of repression and intimidation of a peaceful assembly is unacceptable, and the loss of life makes this even more disturbing,” she said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the US State Department, the European Union, Amnesty International and the human rights committee of the International Bar Association also have expressed concern and condemnation.
Opponents of Mugabe slammed the ”deafening silence” of South Africa over the situation in Zimbabwe in a protest on Tuesday outside Harare’s consulate in Johannesburg.
About 100 people, including exiled Zimbabweans and local human rights groups, demanded the release of all the opposition activists who were arrested in Harare, including Tsvangirai.
”The situation in Zimbabwe is an African problem and countries like our neighbour South Africa cannot go on keeping quiet when people die in Zimbabwe,” said prominent former MDC lawmaker Roy Bennett, who now lives in exile in South Africa.
”It is very sad that our neighbours continue to keep quiet about the brutal situation. They should stand by the very principles they believe in, of democracy, human rights and people’s dignity. Silence is a condonation of Mugabe’s brutal regime, and … it is sad that those who speak out against abuses of the people in Zimbabwe are not Africans themselves,” Bennett said.
South Africa has held back from any overt criticism, with a Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson saying the problems in Zimbabwe should be resolved by Zimbabweans.
It did, however, urge Zimbabwe on Tuesday to respect the rule of law and the rights of opposition leaders. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said South Africa is concerned.
”South Africa urges the Zimbabwean government to ensure that the rule of law, including the respect for rights of all Zimbabweans and leaders of various political parties, is respected,” Pahad said in a statement. ”Similarly, we appeal to leaders of opposition political parties to work towards a climate that is conducive to finding a lasting solution to the current challenges faced by the people of Zimbabwe.”
Pahad said South Africa will continue to work with all sides in Zimbabwe ”to ensure the objective of dialogue among all political parties is realised”.
Protesters in Johannesburg on Tuesday sang anti-Mugabe government songs and hoisted placards proclaiming sentiments such as ”We want to go back — Africa, help us remove Mugabe” and ”Stop police thuggery”.
Zimbabwe’s Information Minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, told the BBC’s Network Africa programme on Tuesday that the police had been attacked by opposition activists.
”The opposition has been involved in violence, caught by police with weapons of destruction and destroying cars and stores and beating up people,” Ndlovu told the BBC. ”They’ve been beating up police, you know. That is what government cannot tolerate.” — ZimOnline, Sapa-AP, Sapa-AFP, Reuters