Military desertions could spell end for Mugabe

By Tererai Karimakwenda
06 February 2007

Robert Mugabe and his ruling party have managed to limp from one crisis to another for years, relying on stop-gap measures to sustain a deteriorating economy. But like the straw that broke the camel’s back, the rate of inflation has reached the point where Mugabe can no longer sustain the institutions that have helped him to violently hold on to power. Several reports recently revealed that the army and the police are experiencing large numbers of resignations and desertions. The problem is salaries. Soldiers and police officers say they cannot survive on their current wages despite hefty increases in the last 6 years. A report by Jan Raath in The Times (UK) said the same desperation and militant discontent that forced doctors, nurses and teachers to strike has now gripped the army and police.
Raath told us that he spoke to many officials in the military and police and discovered that resignations and desertions were widespread. Although he was not given specific figures he said there is a consensus it has never been this bad. Army sources told him the number of lower rank soldiers that are leaving was too high to sustain. The government tried forcing them to stay by refusing to approve resignations. But this backfired because many just went AWOL. Raath said the authorities were advised not to force soldiers to stay, because the result would be mutiny or outright rebellion.
In the police department a leaked memo written by police commissioner Augustine Chihuri to the home affairs minister Kembo Mohadi showed that 3,500 officers, or 14 per cent of the total, had requested permission to resign next month. Chihuri informed Mohadi that “absenteeism is rife and resignations are pouring in because officers cannot afford to feed their families.”
Inflation is over 1200% and the government can no longer keep up with salaries for civil servants. Raath said even if they decided to give all government workers a salary increase, the amount they agree on would be too little by the time they complete the process of negotiating and printing the money. He compared this situation to other dictatorships that once ruled in South America and Europe. He said Mugabe is proving like others before him that if you don’t check inflation with the right economic policies it will eat you up.

..