FORMER Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s People First (PF) political movement has warned army officers and securocrats to stay clear of civilian political processes and making inflammatory statements that could trigger civil unrest.

In a statement yesterday, Mujuru, through PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo said recent threats made against her by Commander of the Zimbabwe Presidential Guard Brigadier General Anselem Sanyatwe should not go unchallenged, as they grossly violated provisions of the Constitution.

“We were shocked to learn that such a senior officer in the army could publicly call for the annihilation of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and her supporters just because of their legitimate political activities in search of a lasting solution to the challenges facing the country,” Gumbo said.

“The statement, allegedly made by Brig Gen Sanyatwe, blatantly contravenes sections 208, 211 and 218 of the national Constitution, which define the security service including the Defence Forces.”

Sanyatwe’s threats came at a time Mujuru and main opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai were reportedly plotting to combine forces ahead of the 2018 elections.

“We are surprised that our leader, Mujuru, was a target of Sanyatwe’s reckless and unconstitutional threats when she has not made any statement that could be regarded as subversive or that could be construed as posing any threat to national security, which Sanyatwe purports to be safe-guarding through his reported statement,” Gumbo said.

“It comes to us as a serious concern that the army is delving into succession politics in the country when, in our view, succession is decided by people during elections.

“What is now more worrying is the involvement of the army in partisan campaigns for one political party. We believe it is necessary that political parties of any persuasion should be allowed to exercise their legitimate right to be voted for by the people of Zimbabwe even if it results in the replacement of the incumbent president.”

Gumbo said Sanyatwe’s utterances can cause animosity between members of political parties and the army and have a potential of causing civil unrest.

He said undermining civilian political rights has grave consequences, as had been seen in other countries.

“We are also saddened to realise that some of these army commanders tend to forget they will retire, at some point, and that there is a future where they will lead civilian lives in which they are supposed to enjoy the same civil and political liberties that they are unconstitutionally undermining today.” Source: newsday