Hawks eye state of emergency

Shiri’s assassination attempt heightens tensions
PRESSURE is mounting on President Robert Mugabe to invoke a state of emergency in the wake of attempts to assassinate Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) Commander, Air Marshal Perence Shiri, and the purported evidence linking Botswana to the training of insurgents to topple the Harare administration.

The AFZ Commander narrowly escaped death on Saturday after he was shot in the palm on his way to his farm in Bindura in what has sent shivers down the spines of those in the corridors of power who immediately described the assault as a build-up of terror attacks on high profile persons, government officials, government establishments and public transportation systems.

Security forces have been on high alert following demonstrations by attested members of the army early in the month. ZANU-PF insiders said the attack on the Air Marshal strengthened the argument of President Mugabe's loyalists who believe that the perceived machinations of the party's enemies could only be forestalled by the declaration of a state of emergency.

A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of the state, alert citizens to alter their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans.
It can also be used as a rationale for suspending civil liberties. Such declarations usually come during a time of natural disaster, periods of civil disorder or following a declaration of war, according to online dictionary Wikipedia.
ZANU-PF insiders said the possibility of President Mugabe issuing the declaration has been discussed within the rank and file of the party, including at the politburo meeting of Tuesday, although no decision had been arrived at as yet.
They said the party's higher echelons were still divided on what course of action to take as they were not sure whether the reports on banditry activities in neighbouring Botswana were true or false.

Sources said some ZANU-PF heavyweights feared the implications of such drastic action which, while provided for under the country's constitution, could confirm the dire situation prevailing in Zimbabwe.

The least the ZANU-PF leadership would want, according to the sources, is to attract international intervention under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council.
MDC-T secretary general, Tendai Biti, rubbished claims by the government that it has gathered compelling evidence linking Gaborone to the training of bandits saying it was a wily move by the state to declare a state of emergency.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa was quoted in the state-run daily Herald saying government had handed over to the Southern African Development Community Organ on Politics, Defence and Security a document containing three DVDs of confessions by alleged MDC-T activists, PowerPoint presentations and graphs.
Biti said: "We have no doubt that they are going to declare a state of emergency. They have a document, which runs into tens of pages, actually 27 pages, which contains the purported evidence. They are using this as an entry point to declare a state of emergency. People would be arrested, abducted in the most vicious assault against human rights."

But senior ZANU-PF officials denied any such manoeuvres when contacted for comment by The Financial Gazette yesterday.
Home Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi said government was not contemplating anything "along those lines. I do not know where he (Biti) is getting it from."
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu described Biti's fears as "a figment of his imagination," before taking his famous line of rubbishing the United States and Britain.
"There is no such thing. No part of government is thinking of that. There will be no state of emergency. We have programmes of national security, which we do not discuss in public," Ndlovu said. "We have thwarted attempts by the US and Britain to invade Zimbabwe using the United Nations. Even at the UN, we have defeated them. They tried to send the self-appointed elders but that did not work. Even Ban Ki-Moon (UN chief) said it," he added.
Ndlovu was referring to the failed visit to assess the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe last month by a group of Elders led by former US president Jimmy Carter. President Mugabe's administration saw the visit by the Elders as a ploy by Britain and its allies to drag Zimbabwe onto the agenda of the UN Security Council.
Meanwhile, the mystery over the recent shooting of Shiri is deepening.
One school of thought alleges that Shiri might have raffled the feathers of diamond dealers in Marange after the AFZ deployed helicopters there to flush out illegal panners.

Others suspect Shiri could have been caught between the vicious power games in ZANU-PF amid indications that some members of the army's top brass have become embedded in factions vying to succeed President Mugabe.

What makes the shooting more intriguing is that it came hardly a week after the death of ZANU-PF national political commissar, Elliot Manyika, who died in suspicious circumstances in a car crash while on his way to restructure the party in Matabeleland.

Yet others view the shooting as having something to do with the assistance the Zimbabwe government is giving to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo which might have upset those fighting to destabilise Joseph Kabila's administration.
Others claim the attack on Shiri was meant to weaken President Mugabe, whose continued grip on the country is partly attributed to the support of the security forces.

Statements coming from the US and Britain that Zimbabwe should be invaded over the cholera outbreak in a bid to oust President Mugabe vindicate this view, they say.