Dogs of war
Two weeks ago, we read about jingles, written by the losing party to be put on national radio, saying “the people would rather have the military to rule them than an IMF stooge” (or western stooge, or whatever, the rhetoric is too stupid to listen to in detail).
Two days ago, we read that Air Commodore Kennedy Remigio Zimondi, director-general of military sports in Ministry of Defence, and third from the top in the chain of command in the Air Force of Zimbabwe, has been arrested on two counts of fraud/corruption, of $5000 and R235 000, and is facing a further count of fraud. So this is a senior military man, who is corrupt (or at least alleged to be, lets be fair).
How stupid do they think Zimbabweans are? How stupid can an organisation be?
And here I must pause to ask myself, what organisation? Zanu PF, the military, or the old ZANLA high command that has conducted the military coup? The one that has run Zimbabwe (into the ground while lining their pockets very well) for the last decade?
But what is the military for anyway? Defence? From whom? And if so, why are they not on border, and only on the border? Why are they so big, why so many (or is it a Zanu PF charity)? The defence of the country is done by Foreign Affairs, who see to it that no one wants to invade Zimbabwe. Talks, treaties, negotiation, good relations with our neighbours, etc. After all, even the Americans have not invaded Libya, and Libya has oil. We have … 80 percent unemployment.
Back to the military. How many planes can the Air Force fly? How many transporters, fighter jets, helicopters? Last I saw helicopters flying, they were shooting diamond panners in Chiangwa. This is not an Air Force job (at least, not the traditional/formal Air Force). But perhaps I am the stupid one. The role of the Air Force is to make money, as demonstrated by their leaders.
And the ground forces? How many armoured cars can drive? How many trucks? How many artillery pieces, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns, etc. can even fire? How much AK ammunition does each soldier have? It makes me wonder, what is the role of the armed forces, what are they supposed to do, what do they believe they can do? Besides rule the country in place of Mr Mugabe or some western stooge. And do they really believe they can do that?
The small amounts of the corruption arrests make people wonder, what did Zimondi do, and to who, that made him get thrown to the dogs? (Those ‘internal security dogs of “Animal Farm” fame). Because we all know they are all corrupt, so why pick this one individual to get arrested?