Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has promoted army officer Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba to the rank of major general, a move that has alarmed opposition parties and analysts. They believe it is the beginning of Zanu-PF moves to win the elections expected this year by all means possible, including violence.
Nyikayaramba, who headed the Three Infantry Brigade in Manicaland province, has been criticised by observers for often overstepping his role in the barracks and actively dabbling in the country’s political scene.
He has been involved in the continuing constitution-making process, pledged support for Mugabe as “president for life” (irking frontrunners in Zanu-PF’s succession race) and made many belligerent statements intimating that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would never rule in Zimbabwe.
But it was Nyikayaramba’s statements made in an interview with the state-owned Herald newspaper in June that exposed the underhand involvement of Zimbabwe’s military in politics.
Nyikayaramba described MDC leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a “national security threat rather than a political one”, and suggested the military should step in to deal with him.
The MDC has accused Nyikayaramba of being a “Zanu-PF figurehead” and not a professional soldier, and of being the face of Mugabe’s continued stranglehold on power. The MDC has linked him to the successive rigging of elections — in 2008, 2005 and the presidential election in 2002, when he was chief executive of the Election Supervisory Commission. Now fears are growing that Nyikayaramba’s promotion could signal a campaign to militarise the next elections, which Mugabe wants held before March.
MDC spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said this week: “In this new post Nyikayaramba is supposed to direct violent and uncouth behaviour in the armed forces. This is clearly an indecent promotion.”
A move to Defence Force headqurters
As a result of the promotion, Nyikayaramba will now move from his base in Manicaland to the Zimbabwe Defence Force’s (ZDF’s) headquarters in Harare, where he now becomes chief of staff: quartermaster.
It is thought his deployment at the army headquarters will give him greater leeway to deploy soldiers to campaign for Mugabe, using violence if necessary. Pedzisayi Ruhanya, a political analyst, said: “Nyikayaramba will run elections using the army and he is at the centre of the militarisation of the country’s politics, electoral institutions and the violent and partisan behaviour of the military.”
Since the emergence of grassroots opposition in 2000, Zimbabwe’s military has taken on an increasingly partisan role in support of Mugabe, with top army commanders such as the late Vitalis Zvinavashe and Constantine Chiwenga refusing to recognise any other leader “without liberation credentials”, a dig aimed at Tsvangirai.
Because of the army’s provocative stance, since June 2008 Tsvangirai has been accusing it of being a “military junta” that has overrun the country’s democratic systems.
Zimbabwe’s military has often turned on civilians. Human-rights organisations have documented the military’s brutality in Operation Mavhotera Papi? (Where did you vote?) in the June 2008 run-off elections and in Operation Hakudzokwi (No return) in October 2008 against diamond panners in the Marange diamond fields.
Speaking about his promotion, Nyikayaramba said it showed Mugabe’s trust in his services. “This is a sign of — confidence in me and I hope I will not fail. We understand the challenges facing us all but with collective efforts we will find a winning formula. My elevation would not have been a success without the contribution of men and women I worked with at various stations.”
Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed Nyikayaramba’s promotion and said: “The promotion does not come simply. He deserves to be where he is because of hard work. There are many people in the ZDF with the same experience, qualifications and disposition but we take into consideration many aspects.
“This is because of the hard work he has exhibited while in previous ranks. He has now reached the apex of his career and this is now the time to work harder.” Also promoted by Mugabe was Air Commodore Michael Moyo, who assumed the rank of air vice-marshal. Moyo will be chief of the National Defence College in Harare.