Some background information on the soldier riots this week

Photo Credit: Tonderai X

I did a bit of investigation in an effort to get a clear picture of the events behind the recent rioting by members of the Zimbabwe National Army.

I was told that on the 27th of November soldiers were supposed to receive their ZW$42 million for their salary, and converged at a bank in town from their places of work, One Commando and KG 6 respectively, on foot.

On arrival at the bank they learnt from the bank manager that their monies had been transported in bulk to their places of work from where bank officials were to issue it to them. It is reported that issuing of the money began in the absence of the soldiers and higher ranking personnel where paid first before the lower ranks, the bulk of whom were in town.

The monies sent by the bank were only sufficient to pay less than 20 of the aforementioned ranks at either of the 2 bases before it ran out. By the time the soldiers from town arrived at their bases the money had long run out and they were told that no money for them had been delivered by the bank.

Empty-handed, angry and frustrated, they returned into town where they confronted the bank manager, man-handling him and the bank’s employees. The siege on the bank was cut short after the bank manager produced documentation that indeed showed the soldiers that money intended for their salaries had indeed been sent to their bases.

That was when all hell broke loose as the soldiers had discovered that their seniors and the administration running the country was taking them for a ride, and they then unleashed an orgy of violence and robbery on unsuspecting black-market foreign currency dealers, accusing them of being collusion with the RBZ’s Gono and being given money that should cover for their salaries to purchase foreign currency.

The rioting on the 1st of this month was a spill-over occurrence, the actual cause being the events of the 27th of November, as the soldiers continued harassing and robbing the forex dealers at Eastgate Shopping Mall, ending up in the looting spree.

There was more drama at Grants Shopping Centre in the early hours of the evening of the 2nd of December, located in Milton Park when soldiers numbering between 30 and 50 assaulted a woman, robbed her of cell phone and handbag, before proceeding to break into a shop that sells clothing in foreign currency and looting both.

The woman was assaulted using clenched fists and boots by the mob and left lying on the ground, bleeding from the mouth and nose, and was identified by onlookers as an acquaintance of a very, very senior and high-ranking army official whose name I shall withhold for my own security.

A short while after the assault the injured woman requested that a bystander call the official using her cell-phone, and within moments the place was swarmed by senior army personnel, donning their fancy regalia and driving expensive double-cab trucks and luxury cars. Within moments 2 truckloads of soldiers from the military police descended on the shopping centre in an effort to track down their counterparts and bring them to book.

It is reported that a senior lady official was directing operations and called for the military police to scour the place and try to apprehend only one soldier who was going to disclose the names of his counterparts.

It was at this moment that my source and witness to this incident decided to depart from the shopping centre, fearing that he might entangle himself in the mess as military police are known to carry out their business using a scorched earth policy.

It is increasingly becoming clear that the events of the past week are not random events and are beginning to show a certain degree of coordination. At this rate, the country is in for very interesting times.

This entry was posted by Freedom Writer on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 12:08 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.