Starvation in the ranks

Mugabe needs the military, but the military need to eat. Today they will go hungry on parade, and they don't like it.

As international observers continue to ask how long Zimbabwe can survive before the combined effects of inflation and bad governance send it spinning into anarchy, there comes news that perhaps the very core of Mugabe's authority is beginning to turn on him.

It is in the rank and file of the army that trouble is brewing. The ordinary troopers are, in a word, starving. Last week there were near riots at KG6, the headquarters of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, when the only food available to the troops was sadza. What's that? ask my non-African readers.

Sadzy is our staple food. It's a maize porridge, usually eaten with meat, fish or vegetables. But last week our troops were offered sadza on its own - for breakfast and for lunch. When their protests grew violent, the officers, for their own protection, took the men to the food stores and showed them the situation - that the shelves which usually carry canned beff, soups, dried kapenta (tiny fish) and sugar were all empty.

A senior figure at the Ministry of Defence told me: "We are well aware that a hungry soldier is an angry soldier. And the truth is, the troops are now so alienated that if we were called on to suppress an uprising they would not respond."

Meanwhile the soldiers have to live, and they do so by thieving. They raid their own headquarters and steal anyuthing they can sell in town, anything from computers to door hinges. But with the current fuel crisis in the country, petrol and diesel are their loot of choice.

At the weekend two soldiers tried to sell fuel at the Samuriwo shopping centre in Mufakose. Some readers will know that this is a volatile area at the best of times. Eager to do a quick deal, the men undercut the local fuel dealers - and were badly beaten as a result.

Starvation can also be found in Mugabe's other official forces. All registered war veterans are paid a monthly allowance, and until now they have repaid it with their unflinching loyalty to Mugabe. Only a few weeks ago 5000 marched in the streets of Harare pledging him their full support.

But behind the scenesthere have been bitter exchanges between the Veterans Association and Labour Minister Nicholas Goche, which ended with the Vets telling Goche that if their allowance was not increased to cope with inflation they would "act accordingly."

Goche took this for what it was - a naked threat of insurrection - and is pleading with the government to find the necessary funds.

Meanwhile, as I have already reported, the Zimbabwe government has radically increased the pay of its Central Intelligence Organisation activists, and is also granting large increases to senior officers in both the police and the army. The salary for a police superintendent in Harare, for instance, more than doubled this week.

But junior officers and army rank and file are getting nothing, and resentment is growing by the hour. Even Mugabe's favoured version of the Hitler Youth, the Green Bombers, are said to be starving in their camps.

By buying the loyalty of the officer class, but neglecting the ordinary troops, Mugabe has to be playing a dangerous game. It was Napoleon - another dictator but a wiser one - who said that an army marches on its stomach.

It's possible that the stomachs of our troops are now so empty, the only place they will march is straight up the road to State House. Guns loaded.

Comments

[yiwu calculator]

Very good day to all readers of this blog. My name is Charles, I would only like to thank the contributors who give us this information so interesting when I read this article I was surprised to discover that still exist in the network, issues of which we can talk and can cause many comments . I hope my opinion on this item is vaild.

[dollar stores]

Hello, We searched for this web site upon Google and wanted to state thanks for the superb read. I would have to agree with it, thank you once again!

[wholesale Kitchen Storage]

The National Association of Attorneys General is asking cigarette maker RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. to stop a promotional gifts campaign for Camel cigarettes that the group says appeals to young people.