Tsvangirai ‘Laughs Off’ Remarks That Military Will Not Salute Him

SW Radio Africa (London)

Tichaona Sibanda

3 June 2011

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has laughed off suggestions that members of the military junta in Zimbabwe are still not prepared to salute him.

On Friday Tsvangirai met the securocrats for the first time in two months, in a highly charged meeting that dragged on for more than five hours, according to sources in the Prime Minister’s office. His aides though were not privy to what was discussed in the meeting.

But they told us top on the agenda was the need for security sector reform and the selective application of the law by the security services. The meeting comes a week before a SADC summit which will discuss Zimbabwe and hopefully finalise a roadmap for free and fair elections.

Security sector reform is one of the issues that still remains unresolved and will probably dominate the meeting in Johannesburg next week.

Following last week’s remarks by Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba that Robert Mugabe should rule forever and that he will never salute Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister reportedly laughed and retorted; ‘Ndiye Zimbabwe here.’ (Is he Zimbabwe?)

An aide to the Prime Minister told SW Radio Africa that the MDC leader was not disturbed by the utterances, as he believed anything to do with Zimbabwe must be decided by Zimbabweans and not a few individuals. Nyikayaramba’s comments have been met with a torrent of criticism from across the political divide and civil society organizations.

‘What he said after those remarks is, mazwiwonaka ndosaka tirikuda security sector reform munyika muno’ (now you see why we are calling for security sector reform in this country), the highly placed aide told us.

Speaking in Harare immediately after Nyikayaramba’s outburst, Tsvangirai said the grim political threats by army generals that they will never salute anyone without liberation war credentials reinforces his oft-repeated call for security sector reforms.

Senior members of the military have on various occasions issued threats that they will block the political transition if Mugabe loses the forthcoming presidential poll.

Nyikayaramba, the Commander of 3 Brigade in Mutare, was the latest general to announce that he would not accept, let alone support or salute, anyone without liberation war credentials.

AllAfrica – All the Time