An NGO leader in Zimbabwe has warned Zambians to brace themselves for more military brutality and violence from Michael Sata because the Zambian leader was learning ways of brutalizing citizens from Robert Mugabe.
Pedzisai Ruhanya, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute for Public Policy Research said in an interview that independent observers had noted with concern President Michael Sata’s close friendship with Robert Mugabe, who had been brutalizing his own people using state security agents.
He said there were growing similarities in the way Sata was brutalizing Zambians using the police and military to the way Mugabe was oppressing Zimbabweans.
Ruhanya’s comments come in the wake of continued police and military shootings of innocent and unarmed people in Zambia such as the recent killing of two people in Kampasa by the Zambia National Service a University of Zambia student who was shot by the police during a peaceful demonstration.
Said President Michael Sata was building a brutal infrastructure of violence including the police and military wings, which he plans to incorporate as wings of the ruling party.
Ruhanya said Sata was supporting evil over good in Zimbabwe because all the well meaning and rightful thinking presidents had distanced themselves from Mugabe’s regime and they had openly condemned the human rights violations, while Sata was embracing the wrong doing.
He said it had become clear for all that Sata was using the state security agents to protect his political interests, a concept that Robert Mugabe was implementing to silence his opponents and maintain his stay in power.
He said Mugabe had been using to state security apparatus to suppress the opposition while in Zambia, Michael Sata had been using the police and military to suppress opposition voices.
In Zambia, the police have been used to deny permits to opposition parties and other civil society organisations from holding public rallies and to arrest those with critical views against the government.
“Sata will not succeed in his plans because his efforts only amount to a small cough because the military will refuse to be used for his political moves,” he said.
Ruhanya said Sata and Mugabe must realize that it was wrong to use the state security to run the affairs of the state. He said the military in Zimbabwe was a wing of the ruling party, a trend that was emerging in Zambia.
He said the people of Zambia would not allow Michael Sata to continue with his brutality because they believed in democratic values since 1991.
“In the past elections, we used to see the military here in Zimbabwe in their uniforms campaigning for Mugabe and chanting symbols of the ruling party openly in public. The military has turned itself into a vigilante and militia wing of the ZANU-PF. You may soon have this in and this is our concern. When people like your president Sata start supporting Mugabe, we don’t know what they are supporting,” he said.
He said Mugabe must learn from Rupiah Banda and realise that a sitting president could lose and election and continue with life after that. Ruhanya said Mugabe must learn from the Zambian experience where there had been smooth and peaceful transitions of power.
“The problem with Sata is that the population of Zambia will not allow him to use the military and police to silence people. He wants to take the role of the military in Zambia from protecting the people to brutalizing the people, like here in Zimbabwe where the military plays a critical role n Mugabe’s political survival unlike in Zambia. Sata is getting these ideas from Mugabe but he will not succeed because the people of Zambia are vigilant,” he said.
Ruhanya said Sata would not succeed in using the police and military to suppress the people because the state security wings had never been involved in political machinations in the history of Zambia.
“Mugabe must realize that there is life after State House. The first president Kenneth Kaunda did it in 1991. The late Frederick Chiluba did it in 2001 when he stepped down after that intense debate about the third term and Rupiah also showed true leadership in 2011 when he handed over power after losing an election to Michael Sata who was an opposition leader. Even Michael Sata himself lost elections three times and he accepted. There has been peaceful transition of power in Zambia, which the Robert Mugabe regime does not want to accept” he said.
He said Mugabe lost his political virginity in March 2008 when he lost the elections but refused to step down because he had also outlived his political usefulness.
“Mugabe lost an election in which he controlled all the systems, including the structures that were organizing the elections. He lost his virginity but he refused to step down thinking this country is his own kingdom and it is unfortunate that leaders such as the Zambian president who don’t understand the political dynamics of this have continued to side with Mugabe,” he said.
Ruhanya said the people of Africa were sick and tired of old leaders such as Michael Sata and Robert Mugabe who had continued to force themselves on the people.
“Mugabe is now 90 years old and he is currently out of the country to get medical treatment so that he could come and address two or three rallies before the elections and he is almost collapsing at these meetings, but the Zambian president and Zambian government thinks that Mugabe is a very good man. The man is tired and losing his mind. Mugabe has lost his own legacy by imposing himself on the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
He said many people in Zimbabwe were not expecting free and far elections because the Mugabe regime was manipulating the electoral system such as the voter registration exercise, which was favouring the ruling party. Ruhanya said the economy of Zimbabwe had stabilised and inflation reduced but Mugabe’s continue stay in power was disadvantaging the country because of his greediness.
“We have a relatively stable economy but unemployment is still a problem, which we have to deal with. We also need to work on the attraction of investment as well as the human rights record and transition of power. The other thing we have to deal with is partisan role of the military in the electoral process of this country because currently, it favours Mugabe and the ZANU-PF. The military favours Mugabe and it has turned itself into a vigilante wing of the ruling party and this will be the same in Zambia because of Sata’s closeness to Mugabe,” he said.
Zimbabwe goes to the presidential and partliamentary elections on July 31, 2013 and the political atmosphere has been peaceful so far. Ruhanya said the political situation leading to the elections in Zimbabwe was not violent, but the people were aware that Mugabe’s infrastructure of violence was still active because it had just been sent into hibernation and it could be unleashed at any convenient time.
“We cannot not say that there will be no violence before, during and after elections in Zimbabwe because this infrastructure of violence could be reactivated and this is why we implore upon Michael Sata to beseech his friend Mugabe, since it is only him who talks to him not to use violence on his people during this year’s elections,” he said.
The Zimbabwe Democracy Institute for Public Policy Research n involved in reviewing political, economic and other forms of public plans in Zimbabwe.
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