PRESS STATEMENT BY THE ZANU PF NATIONAL SECRETARY FOR INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY CDE S. K MOVO.

Consistent with the guiding principle of the National Liberation Struggle, the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PE) reaffirms the primacy of politics over the gun. It is against an understanding of this abiding principle that the statement issued by General Constantino Chiwenga purporting to speak on behalf of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) was not only surprising, but was an outrageous vitiation of professional soldiership and his war time record as a high-ranking freedom fighter entrusted with Command responsibilities in a free and democratic Zimbabwe.

Clearly calculated to disturb national peace and stability, the said statement by General Constantino Chiwenga which was not signed, and which did not represent the rest of the Command Element, suggests treasonable conduct on his part as this was meant to incite insurrection and violent challenge to the Constitutional Order. Indeed, this is what happens when the gun seeks to overreach by dictating to politics and norms of Constitutionality.

As the Party running the democratically elected Government of Zimbabwe, ZANU PF will never succumb to any threats, least of all, those deriving from conduct that is inconsistent with the tenets of democracy and Constitutionalism. Not too far back, the President and First Secretary of ZANU PF Cde R.G. Mugabe who is also Commander-In-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) reminded members of the Uniformed Forces of their subordinate place and role viz-a-viz; the Political Authority of the Land.

By yesterday's reprehensible conduct, it would appear that this wise counsel not only went unheeded, but was flagrantly flouted in deference to factional politics and personal ambitions. Such conduct stands unreservedly condemned not only in the Party, but also in our Southern African Region and the entire African Continent where subversion of Constitutional Authority is frowned upon and regarded as an absolute anathema.

Statement issued by SK Moyo, National Secretary for Information and Publicity, Zanu-PF, 15 November 2017