UNDERSTANDING THE ZIMBABWE'S MILITARY STYLE
UNDERSTANDING THE ZIMBABWE'S MILITARY STYLE
By:
Nurudeen Dauda
November 29, 2017 nurudeendauda24@yahoo.com
nurudeendauda24@gmail.com
nurudeendauda.blogspot.com
In my observation, Mr Mugabe overstretched his luck by allowing his "wife" of 21 years old marriage to destroy his good relationship with his political friends of over 40 years with whom they struggled for independence. Not only the people with whom Mr Mugabe struggled for independence would have felt insulted by the scheming of his "wife" to succeed him as president, but also many keen observers.
The military was convinced that Mr Mugabe overstretched his luck and calculated very well on how to douse tension on itself from the global, continental and sub- regional rejection and condemnation.
In my analysis, the "lessons" to be learnt from the military style of Zimbabwe is that military rule in Africa has almost come to an end, but the Zimbabwe's military style of removing a democratically elected leader might in the future be used in Africa in order to remove democratically elected leaders. However, Is the Zimbabwe's military style the best way of removing a democratic government? Please come with me!
Military rule in Africa in the past used to be very rampant but it is now increasingly becoming an old fashion. In my view, this is so, because of its global "rejection" and the rising acceptance of democratic rule globally. In my understanding, it was not that the military leadership in Zimbabwe did not want the leadership of the country for itself, but it was simply because with the present global campaign for democratization, had it declared its "action" as a full blown military coup with the intention to stay in power the "pressure" would have been too much as well as unbearable for its to stand.
Nowadays from United Nations, UN; European Union, EU; African Union, EU, and to Economic Community of West African states, ECOWAS etc, no one accepts or recognizes military rule anymore. Southern Africa as a sub- region in the African continent is not a home to military coup. More so, countries like Bostswana, Namibia, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa who are all in the Southern African sub- region had never witnessed or experienced any military coup. So, I doubt if any of those countries would support military rule in the region.
What happened in Zimbabwe was the first military intervention in the country.The military leadership of Zimbabwe might have analyzed what happened in Côte d' lvoire and Gambia and the role played by the powerful Nigeria and its counterparts in the West African sub- region where Laurent Gbagbo and Yahya Jameh were forced to leave office, even though, theirs were not military coups and come to the conclusion that the sub- regional coalition of Southern Africa led by the powerful South Africa and its counterparts would borrow a leaf from Nigeria and its counterparts in order to restore democratic rule.
South Africa as the sub- regional leader of the region, in my analysis, had the military of Zimbabwe declared their "action" as military coup with the intention to rule the country, the South African government would have rejected the coup and mobilize a coalition of military forces in the region in order to chase the military out. South Africa would have definitely taken action against the military coup in Zimbabwe in order to assert its sub- regional power.
In terms of economic strength, South Africa is by far the dominant power of the region. From a political perspective the Southern African region is "unipolar "with South Africa as a first regional power. South Africa's GDP alone is many times greater than the GDPs of all other countries in the region. South Africa has a population of over fifty million people with an active military personnel of 78,707 with 15,107
Reserve personnel.
The military leadership of Zimbabwe was well aware of the fact that it could not withstand the military might of South Africa and its Southern African counterparts. Zimbabwe's army is too weak to withstand a military coalition against its in the sub- region. The current population of Zimbabwe is 16,683,577. Furthermore, their Defence Forces are composed of the Zimbabwe National Army and the Air Force of Zimbabwe. As a landlocked country, Zimbabwe has no Navy. It has a total military Personnel of
30,000 as the active Personnel.
However, following unconstitutional means to remove a democratically elected leader should and or must not be accepted or encouraged . We must insist on democratic means in removing a civilian dictator not military coup by whatever style or guise. The World could end military rule through a global coalition.