Back to Index

Soldiers grossly abusing delegated powers on Harare's streets
Transparency International-Zimbabwe
September 13, 2012

The recent development in Harare where soldiers are allegedly beating up rank marshals and conductors to avenge an attack on some of their colleagues, begs the question on whether or not these soldiers are doing so within the confines of the law. Are the soldiers abusing their powers delegated to them to maintain law and order? Or is this part of their mandate in law? Transparency International -Zimbabwe (TI-Z) a systems oriented organization leading the fight against corruption in Zimbabwe is disturbed by the recent developments in Harare. TI-Z defines corruption as the abuse of power for personal gain. In this instance it seems the soldiers are seeking to gain mileage for themselves or their institution by resuscitating an atmosphere of fear through intimidation and harassment of ordinary civilians. TI-Z is calling all stakeholders to rise up and contest this gross abuse of delegated power by the Zimbabwean army, which is in law, a civilian army and therefore is supposed to keep the peace and order not intimidate citizens.

If indeed the allegations are true that civilians (rank marshals) abused army officials, the rule of law must still prevail. The aggrieved institution in this case the army has to take this matter to the police henceforth the courts for prosecution and not institute its own vigilante style of justice. So close to upcoming elections this behaviour is disturbing as it seems to be setting the ground work for more violent elections. Since in Zimbabwe documented evidence shows that in election times the security apparatus go about beating up innocent civilians, this behaviour is open to this interpretation.

The violence allegedly began on Monday. If soldiers are acting without authority, citizens need to hear the superiors of these offending individuals speak out. Silence on the matter and continuation of this behaviour leads to the conclusion that army superiors are condoning and abetting what is taking place at Market Square and other ranks. The army superiors should deal transparently with the offending officers. It is important that the army should be seen to be operating according to transparent rules of government and not acting on arbitrary and unconstitutional decisions that do not promote a free and democratic society.

The case of soldiers beating up rank marshals as a way of avenging an attack on their colleagues is the worst kind of corruption. These soldiers are not only behaving corruptly but this is also contrary to the spirit of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that calls on all institutions of the government including the security and defence forces to promote the restoration of peace and order and play a role in preventing conflict while serving the whole population.

TI-Z is therefore urging army officials to act quickly to restore law and order. The aggrieved soldiers should leave the issue to the police who have the constitutional mandate to arrest those rank marshals who attacked soldiers last week. This urgency is vital because of impending elections and also to avoid mis-interpretation of the army's intentions. Protection of innocent citizens and the quick restoration of law and order is what citizens expect from all law enforcement institutions in this country.

Visit the Transparency International - Zimbabwe (TI-Z) fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP