Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commander, Lieutenant General Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe has declared Zanu PF will not be dislodged through the ballot, adding that the country’s dreaded military will use force to ensure voters cast their ballots in the ruling party’s favour.
The feared army boss, blamed for his role in the killing of six protesters and bystanders August 1, 2018, was addressing a recent Zanu PF rally in Nyanga North constituency where his wife is MP.
It is unconstitutional for a serving soldier to belong to any political party or act in any partisan manner.
Sanyatwe vowed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s party will enforce what he termed “command voting”.
“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.”
Loosely translated, this means the military will use force to organise voters and ensure they vote for Zanu PF.
The controversial army boss’s name evokes deep emotion among the opposition faithful and ordinary citizens alike when his name is mentioned.
Then a Brigadier General, he was deployed by Mnangagwa August 1, 2018 to quash protests by citizens who were agitated by the delay in announcing of the full election results by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
The Motlanthe Commission appointed to probe the violence concluded that soldiers fired live ammunition at protesters indiscriminately, killing at least six and wounding 35 more, some of them being bystanders and workers who were returning to their homes through the Harare city centre after knocking off.
The sabre-rattling former commander of the Presidential Guard under late former President Robert Mugabe, was twice promoted by Mnangagwa after the killings and left the military holding the second highest rank before being deployed in Tanzania as the country’s ambassador.
On October 20, 2023, Sanyatwe rejoined the military from the foreign service and was promoted to ZNA commander.
In his address to villagers, Sanyatwe signed off with an emphatic slogan in support of Mnangagwa and Zanu PF while denouncing the opposition.
The Zimbabwean military’s continued interference in political affairs in support of Zanu PF and some party factions has is seen as the stumbling block for any change of government in the country.
