Choosing between Tsvangirai and Chiwenga
June 23, 2008
Geoffrey Nyarota
Why Chiwenga would die for Mugabe
Should a man who failed an elementary military test, shot himself in the chest in despair as a result, missed the vital organ by millimeters, before the test result was reversed in his favour out of sympathy, ever be permitted to assume command of the armed forces of a nation?
Most fair minded people will say, “Of course not.”
The foregoing is an apt description of the circumstances surrounding the launch of the military career of the commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, General Constantine Chiwenga.
Not only did then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe order the officials at the Military Staff Training College in Gweru to reverse the result of the crucial test that the young officer had failed, he also immediately rewarded him with promotion to the rank of brigadier, appointing him to take charge of the Zimbabwe Army’s One Brigade in Bulawayo. He became Brigadier Dominic Chinenge.
Chinenge was the name that Chiwenga assumed after he enlisted with ZANLA on arrival in Mozambique in 1973. After the ceasefire and independence he first came to the notice of the new military top brass as commander of the Zanla forces during the Entumbane uprising in Bulawayo.
Then Finance Minister Enos Nkala, an avowed enemy of PF-Zapu President Dr Joshua Nkomo, made inflammatory remarks at a Zanu-PF rally held in Bulawayo in November 1980. He warned Nkomo and PF-Zapu that Zanu-PF would deliver a few blows against the opposition party. This careless and insensitive remark sparked off the first Entumbane uprising, in which Zipra and Zanla, the armed wings of the two parties fought a pitched battle for two days in the newly constructed but still unoccupied suburb of Entumbane, where troops of both armies had been temporarily cantoned.
Chinenge was the commander of the Zanla troops.
In February 1981 there was a second uprising, which spread to Glenville and also to Connemara in the Midlands. ZIPRA troops in other parts of Matabeleland headed for Bulawayo to join the battle, and ex-Rhodesian units were brought in to stop the conflict. Over 300 people, most of them ex-guerillas lost their lives.
The British Military Advisory Team (BMAT), which the new government of Zimbabwe contracted to integrate Zanla and Zipra, as well as elements of the former Rhodesian security Forces and also to modernize the new Zimbabwe National Army, established a military training school in Gweru. Among former Zanla fighters enlisted was Dominic Chinenge. That was in 1982.
Eleven years earlier, two Form Three schoolboys, Constantine Chiwenga, and a friend had absconded from Mt St Mary’s Secondary School, a Catholic institution in the heartland of the Hwedza District. They set out along the road that many schools boys and girls of the day were travelling – to Mozambiaque and the war of liberation. The friend was Bigboy Samson Chikerema.
When they returned to Zimbabwe after the ceasefire in 1980 they had assumed new names as was the fashion among the young guerillas. Chiwenga had become Chinenge, while Chikerema had assumed the name Perrence Shiri. Chinenge was destined to become Brigadier Chinenge in charge of One Brigade in Bulawayo and ultimately General Chiwenga, commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Shiri would be appointed commander of Five Brigade, the controversial North Korean-trained unit which caused havoc and mayhem in the provinces of Matabeleland and the Midlands.
Deployed to rout what turned out to be only a handful of armed dissidents in the aftermath of Entumbane, Five Brigade waged a ruthless campaign of bloodthirsty slaughter, which left no less than 10 000 innocent civilians dead. Some estimates put the figure at as high as 20 000.
At the end of his training course in Gweru, Chiwenga’s class took an examination. Not surprisingly, given his poor academic background, he failed the test that was designed to open the doors to opportunities in the military.
On arrival back home in Harare, unable to come to terms with the bleak future he faced, the young officer pulled out his service pistol pointed it at the left side of his chest and pulled the trigger. The bullet sliced through his body exiting at the back, just below the left shoulder blade. He had however missed the heart which he apparently was aiming for.
“He was unconscious when he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Parirenyatwa Hospital,” says Dr Mukai Ndlovu (not his real name) who was a young doctor at the hospital at the time when Chiwenga was rushed there. Ndlovu who now lives in the United Kingdom, was present in the theatre as Chiwenga underwent surgery. He observed him as he recuperated slowly in the hospital’s exclusive Ward D, which had previously been reserved for wealthy white patients.
“The bullet missed the heart by a mere 10 millimetres. It went through his left nipple, narrowly missing the heart but rupturing the upper lobe of the left lung. The bullet had gone straight through his body leaving a gapping hole at the back.
“Apart from general debridement (cleaning) of the gun-shot wound and stopping the bleeding from the damaged left lung, no major surgery was undertaken.”
But, Ndlovu said, the exit wound left by the bullet had caused a serious problem as it would not respond to treatment. After he was discharged from hospital the wound had taken more than two months to heal.
After Chiwenga’s recovery the then Prime Minister, Robert Mugabe, had felt sorry for the young former freedom fighter. He ordered the military instructors in Gweru to reverse Chiwenga’s exam result. Not only that – he promoted him to the rank of Brigadier in the first crop of post-independence commanders of the army’s four brigades at the time. Brigadier Chinenge was appointed commander of One Brigade at its Brady Barracks headquarters in Bulawayo.
Ndlovu says this development had raised eye-brows in medical circles.
Said the doctor: “For someone to undergo such a traumatic experience; it that he has suffered a severe acute depression. At the time that Chiwenga decided to take his own life, he was virtually a deranged man.
“For such a man to recover, have his exam result reversed and be promoted to a brigadier was simply incredible.
“That explains Chiwenga’s deep loyalty to Mugabe. But in a civilised society you do not promote someone who has undergone such a deranged and traumatic experience to take charge of an army brigade, let alone a whole army.
“It’s unheard of. You would not trust a man who has undergone such severe acute depression to make normal and rational decisions under challenges such as experienced in a military situation. Someone who is susceptible to such irrational decision-making has already shown you that he cannot be relied upon to make reasonable decisions under stress and challenge.”
Ndlovu said the fact that Chiwenga had risen to become, first commander of the Zimbabwe National Army and then of Zimbabwe’s Defence Forces reflected badly on the judgement of Mugabe.
“According to Mugabe,” says Ndlovu, “here is a man who was prepared to die because he failed a simple test and who is now dependent on him for all his credentials and promotions. Mugabe prefers such a man in charge of the army because he is not capable of making professional and independent decisions. Yet failing that simple test in 1982 proved that Chiwenga is not capable of holding positions such as he holds now.”
“Now we all reap the consequences of Mugabe’s ill-advised decisions. Without Mugabe, Chiwenga would certainly not be commander of the army. He should have been dismissed from the army after his failed suicide attempt.
“Put simply, Chiwenga is suicidal”
Of late Chiwenga has acquired political clout, which is not entirely commensurate with his position in the armed forces. He has become perhaps Zimbabwe’s most powerful citizen after Mugabe. Some will argue that he may have become the most powerful Zimbabwean.
He is the leader of the Joint Operations Command which, since the dramatic political events of March 29, 2008, when President Mugabe lost a crucial presidential election to his nemesis and perceived political Liliputian, Morgan Tsvangirai, of the MDC, has effectively usurped the executive powers otherwise vested in the President.
Addressing Zanu-PF supporters on Friday, June 12, Mugabe, disclosed what he assumed was a closely guarded secret. It was information, however, that has been in the public domain since soon after the events of that fateful day on Sunday, May 30, 2008, when the top war veterans visited the President.
As the party faithful cheered him at Murehwa Business Centre, Mugabe dismissed the MDC, as has been his relentless custom since 1999, as a “British party that was created and funded by the British”. Mugabe then made his public disclosure.
He said that after the March 29 elections the war veterans had approached him in his office to plead for a return to the bush war that preceded Zimbabwe’s independence.
“They said, ‘We secured our independence through the barrel of the gun. Are we now to surrender it through the power of the pen? Should we let the country go through a simple X on a ballot paper?’
“We told them we did not want to go back to war. But we said to them, ‘Can all of you here just watch as the country is taken back?’”
Following this clear presidential incitement, on April 5 the security forces were heavily deployed throughout the countryside and Zimbabwe has known no peace since then.
The identity of the war veterans who approached Mugabe in the circumstances described is not in any way shrouded in mystery. The delegation that visited the President comprised none other than the members of the Joint Operations Command. The commanders who visited Mugabe that Sunday are General Constantine Chiwenga, commander of the Defence Forces, Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri of the Police, Air Marshal Perrence Shiri, commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe as well as director of prisons Paradzai Zimondi. These men, Chiwenga and Chihuri, in particular, are reputed to be currently the powers behind the Mugabe throne.
It is they who monitored the operations of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which is headed by a former senior army officer. It is they who received the first briefing on how the election count was shaping. It is they who were the first to panic at the totally unexpected or, in their view, unacceptable briefs that they received from ZEC that Sunday. It is, therefore, also they who, when it became patently clear which way the vote count was going, decided to take the bull by the horns by approaching the equally anxious Mugabe.
It is they, reliable sources say, who calmed the President, by saying he should not panic. It is they who decided on the strategy to delay the announcement of the election results, especially the presidential, which they and Mugabe became aware of on that day, as indeed did many Zimbabweans who bothered to collate the results posted outside their polling stations, in terms of the Electoral Act.
It was after such collation that MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti prematurely announced the election, much to the chagrin of the JOC, which allegedly was counting on the secrecy of the whole counting process to implement whatever strategy was their brief. They never forgave Biti. He now stands charged of treason and faces a possible death sentence.
The JOC has now effectively usurped executive authority from Mugabe. Their loyalty to Mugabe arises from different reasons. Chiwenga owes his very existence to the President. Chihuri was rehabilitated in 1980 after a long period of incarceration as a prisoner of Zanu in the dungeons of Cabo del Gado in Mozambique. Shiri lives in mortal fear of retribution for Gukurahundi.
Besides that, their senior positions in the security forces have opened doors to immense wealth. They own mansions, the best farming estates, fleets of luxury cars. It is not loyalty alone that motivates them to resist change. They cannot countenance letting go of all they have acquired over the years that the system has been totally devoid of any vestige of accountability.
As leader of JOC in a lawless Zimbabwe, Chiwenga is the man now vested with authority over the lives and welfare of millions of Zimbabweans. As for now, those lives count for nothing as the veterans of the war of independence now fight for their very survival.
With Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono on sides to keep the presses running while printing bank notes with reckless abandon, the people of Zimbabwe are in trouble, even if they vote Mugabe out on Friday.
He has made it impiously clear, only God can dethrone him.
But Mugabe’s blaspheme should not, in any way, intimidate Tsvangirai into withdrawing from Friday’s elections. The electorate should be mindful, however, that they will basically be choosing between Morgan Tsvangirai and Constantine Chiwenga and his ruthless cronies, a choice between the forces of good and the forces of evil.
If Mugabe and his henchmen lose the election re-run innocent Zimbabweans will die in ruthless retribution. Likewise, if they emerge victorious they will celebrate by sacrificing the lives of innocent Zimbabwe.
The MDC should remain mindful that Mugabe was never going to depart without staging horrific melodrama.
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Well said. However the man to blame should always be mugabe. If he was not in agreement with these thugs, he would have simply resigned and sought refuge somewhere. We would all have applauded him and even offer him forgiveness for all the other crimes he committed.
Mugabe and all his henchmen must one day face the music.
Good work Nyarota. You are a rare breed like Tsvangirai… saying it as it is
Nyarota I have known you from The Bulawayo Chronicle, You are the best investigate journalist of the country
Excellent article. This proves that good and brave journalists still exist. It gave me a good insight into the present tragic situation of Zimbabwe. I especially agree with the last lines of the article. Bravo
It is very difficult for people in general to change the status quo if they are the benefactors of the system. The American sysem is currently laden with Racism and ask me about how the American Whites cling to economic power and hence political power, and I will write you a book about that.
I love History and I hate to see our ZANU being stolen and abused by one man. The slogan that rang during liberation struggle was “ZANU vanhu” (The people are Zanu)among many. Zanu had been formed for the people by Tekere and Nkala but they immediately made a mistake they have lived to regret. They appointed Robert Mugabe to be the secretary General on the basis of the fact that he was far more educated than the rest of them. Grave mistake, that I continue to hear from Zimbabwean circle. Academic intelligence and social wisdom can run parallel in many people and never meet.
So, at independence, faced with young freedom fighter, majority of whom were in their late twenties and early thirties and principally semi-literate, we adopted a reconciliatory stance with the oppressors- a continuation of the status quo. Not that the process of reconciliation was bad – but a lesson we have learned world over is that it is very difficult for white people to live inclusively with other races – it is just their nature- God forgive them. I still believe the second wave of whites leaving Zimbabwe was not due to atrocities by Mugabe. It was simply from competition for Jobs from blacks. Not many black communities produce school loving people like Black Zimbabweans and they are good at it for that matter. The Zanu led Government was very strong headed against all forms of racism in the labour market- mean time they continued supporting a backfiring policy that renders an uneducated person useless and hopeless no matter how able bodied they are. It thus means soon after the struggle, most freedom fighters were rendered useless and used material. If Chiwenga realised that by failing the Military test he was automatically a useless commodity, after spending years in the bush, killing himself was an unfortunate but necessary evil. Simply because they do not have a resounding education Chiwenga and many like him will fight for the status quo because that is the only way they know they can earn a living. We are faced with a daunting task ladies and gentlemen. It is too late to take most of the Ex- combatants back to school, or any form of rehabilitation for that matter yet the majority of them, in their fifties now , are still capable of causing a lot of political chaos. As long as they are not sure who will take care of their welfare and interests, besides Mugabe, they will fight to the last man to keep Mugabe in power.
To a wise leader to take over Zimbabwe, the truth is , as long as Mugabe lives, ZANU will remain a stolen party, led by one unscrupulous person but with the potential of creating havoc. ZANU and MDC parties for that matter should be able to clearly define change of leadership modalities within their ranks. Ability to change leadership has kept the ANC a formidable force in South Africa and the inability to effectively change leadership has eroded the popularity of KANU in Kenya. After this silly run off, ZANU better use this time to repair its image otherwise they will remain in our history as an organ used to topple Ian Smith, and nothing more better.
Meantime the whites and Indians and their ownership of Capital, if allowed to return and assume their assets and control of the economy, they will face a formidable force – Black entrepreneurs, educated, exposed and experienced. In countries like USA, Canada, UK and the like, any educated Zimbabweans fail to get meaninful jobs simply because they are black, that should not happen in a Zimbabwe post Mugabe era. Developed countries continue to make the same grassroots mistakes. If they fail to live with and work fairly with blacks in their countries, Mugabe and his cronies will continue to use rhetoric founded in such failures to lure people to their support, they know it and they see it. We even wonder at their genuiness in helping us to fight for democracy in Zimbabwe.
Geoff Nyarota is great in informing us of such people we are dealing with, but we also want equally crafty people to help us find solutions to the problems of Zimbabwe, some good unbiased analysts who do not means their words.
Geoff Nyarota should keep quiet. You used to write about Gukurahundi at the Chronicle in Bulawayo. You were a cheer leader for Five Brigade. Like Odinga no amount of abuse of these people that you are prating about will exonerate you from the fact that you were also a player.
Geoffrey Nyarota comments: This pulpable nonsense was created and peddled by the NewZimbabwe.com website in its ethnically divisive heyday, between 2004 and 2006. The launch of the Zimbabwe Times website in 2006 effectively silenced them. While that website was promoted on demonising my name they realised they could no longer sustain their onslaught if challenged in the absence of facts or evidence.
They attacked The Chronicle for not taking the Mugabe government to task over Gukurahundi. The Chronicle was situated in Matabeleland operating in circumstances of a state of emergency and a curfew. A new Gukurahundi has descended on Zimbabwe – with brutal atrocities being perpetrated in Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland.
Those who demonised The Chronicle and its staff for allegedly not exposing Gukurahundi back in the 1980s are themselves now conspicuous by their silence on the new wave of Gukurahundi atrocities, amid uncontested allegations that they have actually jumped into bed with Zanu-PF. The paper-trail is growing. Meanwhile, they are safe in foreign capitals all the time, unlike the journalists of The Chronicle, and they have much more advanced technology at their disposal.
MuzukuruwaGushungo, you will have to try harder than this.
Typical African politics. When is the continent going to learn to set aside greed and wealth and keep the civilian population as a more important asset than money. Us Americans do not take African politics seriously. That is shameful because it is not the general population that has created this but the governments and some low life people. The main thing we pay attention to is the internet and phone scams that come out of Africa. I bet I can run for president in some country and gain the loyalty of the military and police via bribery and corruption. HMMMM. I may do that.
Nyarota, I greatly admire your investigative reporting. My request is that you give us the profile of a Dictator, Mugabe. He didnt start supporting his corrupt side kicks in 2000 nor did he in 1990/1 during the willowvale scandal. Please dissect this dictator once and for all so that we know the real story behind him. Thank you
Bonyongo. Good call. How bout just physically dissect him instead probably will be more useful;)
It has taken me months to comment on this story. I must say I enjoyed some revelation at the same time verified some facts and I am happy with Mr Nyarota’s article. Surely this guy (Chiwenga) should not have been promoted. I also spoke to different present and past officers from the army and they hardly respect him with some literally condemning the whole promotion criteria used in the army. Now the questionis what should the future Zimbabwe do with ill gotten wealth that these careless men are amasing?