The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commander, Lieutenant General Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe, recently declared that the ZANU PF party will remain in power forever, adding that the military will use force to ensure voters cast their ballots for ZANU PF.
At a recent ZANU PF campaign rally in Nyanga North constituency, where his wife Chido is the Member of Parliament, Sanyatwe said the party will enforce a system of “command voting.”
Under this system, voters will be instructed on who to vote for, and if they do not comply, the election results will be manipulated.
Sanyatwe, who used the donkey analogy, said that ” ZANU PF will rule until donkeys grow horns”, adding that he was speaking as the army commander. He said:
ZANU PF will continue ruling until donkeys grow horns. Whether you like it or not.
Now, I am speaking as the army commander, we are going to use what is called command voting.
He concluded his remarks by leading pro-ZANU PF chants and denouncing what he characterised as “enemies,” an apparent reference to the political opposition.
Commenting on Sanyatwe’s remarks, award-winning journalist Hopewell Chin’ono posted on X:
What the General said is unconstitutional, but it is our lived reality. Elections are rigged, and we don’t have a strong opposition that can fight back!
The General’s statements basically confirm what many of us have said for years, that Zimbabwe’s elections are a farce, a theatre production where the script and the ending have been written in advance by the ruling party.
A production where the ruling party candidate has the election results in his pocket before the date of the election.
Then a Brigadier General, Sanyatwe was commander of the Presidential Guard, deployed in central Harare on 1 August 2018 to deal with demonstrations following the July elections. Six protesters and bystanders were shot dead during the operation.
During his testimony to the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry on 12 November 2018, Sanyatwe asserted that soldiers under his command did not bear responsibility for the deaths resulting from the events of August 1, maintaining that they did not fire at the crowds.
Responding to a commissioner who had asked if any dead bodies were recovered from the area where the kneeling soldier was firing, Sanyatwe said:
No, sir. if you watch that video closely, that soldier who took a kneeling position whilst firing; if you check properly [with] military experts, that rifle was being fired at an angle of 45 degrees in the air, and not directly to the [people].
Following the incidents of violence, Sanyatwe received two promotions from President Emmerson Mnangagwa. He eventually left the military, holding the second-highest rank, and was subsequently deployed as Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania.
Sanyatwe returned to the military from his foreign service assignment on October 20, 2023, and was promoted to the position of Zimbabwe National Army commander.
The Zimbabwean constitution prohibits serving soldiers from affiliating with any political party or engaging in partisan activities.
However, Zimbabwe’s military has a reputation for interfering in politics, particularly during election periods.
In 2002, General Vitalis Zvinavashe, then commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), stated during a press briefing that the army would only endorse political leaders committed to upholding Zimbabwean values. He said:
We wish to make it very clear to all Zimbabwean citizens that the security organisations will only stand in support of those political leaders who will pursue Zimbabwean values.
We will therefore not accept, let alone support or salute anyone with a different agenda…
Let it be known that the highest office on the land is a “straight jacket” whose occupant is expected to observe the objectives of the liberation struggle.
Any change designed to reverse the gains of this revolution will not be supported.
More: Pindula News