People First demands security sector reforms

via People First demands security sector reforms – Southern Eye January 28, 2016

FORMER Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s yet-to-be-launched People First (PF) outfit has joined other opposition parties in demanding security sector reforms.

NQOBANI NDLOVU

The party said the reforms were not targetted at individuals, but establishing an institution with “broadly-agreed-upon consensus values of society”.

PF official Kudzai Mbudzi, told Southern Eye yesterday that those opposing security sector reforms were only doing so to curry favour with powers-that-be and entrench a false belief that advocates for security sector reforms were traitors bent on undermining the institution.

“The much-propagated security sector reform process and programme is much more than an individual perception of the mere roles and responsibilities as a major-general or a counter intelligence director in the CIO. It has more to do with molding the fundamental concepts and dispositions to engender a critical people-centred military in a modern democracy,” he said.

“It has more to do with some conceptual administrative behavioural change, to enact those normative roles expected of a truly people’s security forces in the individual role players and incumbents in the security sector.

“It’s also more to do with the enactment of the normative roles of a true ‘people’s security force’, as indeed it is about creating a positive and a rich organizational culture within the country’s security sector; grounded in positive values, beliefs, history, attitudes; congenial or uncongenial,” Mbudzi said.

Some top military officials have been unambiguous in their support for the ruling Zanu PF, much to the anger of opposition parties, who are calling for security sector reforms.

Some top government officials have been steadfast in refusing security sector reforms as alien, a move to weaken the security establishment to facilitate an easy regime change agenda.

But Mbudzi argued otherwise.

“PF views, and correctly so, that the security forces, as part of the wider range of other societal institutions, are part of the State administrative apparatus for the governance of Zimbabwean people and cannot be a sacred cow to public reflective scrutiny.

“So, if security forces openly delve into politics and start issuing political sentimental statements aimed at tilting the political landscape in favour of, or to curry favour with some elements within the ruling elite, then the positive conscience of society starts to raise some alarm bells. And those to PF are exactly some of the issues to be addressed by any security sector reform process,” he argued.