The Daily Telegraph
15th June 2003
By David Harrison in Harare
Zimbabwe’s security forces, the front-line enforcers of President Robert Mugabe’s brutal regime, are being paid only a fraction of their salaries as the country’s economic crisis deepens.
Many soldiers and police officers, whose loyalty has traditionally been bought with high pay and other perks, are receiving less than half of their wages because there is not enough money in the Treasury coffers, according to serving police officers.
The pay cuts are threatening to undermine the forces’ morale and, crucially, their loyalty to Mr Mugabe. Opponents say that Mr Mugabe continues in power only because critics of the regime risk violence, jail and death at the hands of his ruthless state security forces, including the feared Central Intelligence Organisation.
Last week, with the help of an intermediary, The Telegraph met two policemen in the capital, Harare, who were prepared to speak out, on condition of anonymity.
One officer, in his mid-thirties, said: “Recently I have been paid only a small part of my salary and it is making life very difficult. I have a wife and children. How am I supposed to feed them if am not being paid properly?”
The other, a slightly older man, said: “If you were in the security forces you always knew that you would be rewarded well because you were protecting the regime. But that is not happening now and many police officers are suffering, and soldiers too. It makes us wonder why we do it.”
The Government denied that security officers were not receiving their full salaries and said that all civil servants would receive pay rises from July 1. The police officers were adamant, however, that they were not being paid in full and said that the cuts were causing “deep resentment”.
Members of the ruling Zanu-PF’s 40,000-strong youth militia threatened to revolt last year because they had not been paid, but a rebellion by experienced security officers would pose a serious threat to Mr Mugabe’s rule – and possibly his life.
The pay cuts will hit particularly hard because they come at a time when prices in the shops are soaring – Zimbabwe’s inflation is just under 300 per cent – and there are serious shortages of basic foods, petrol and medicines in the worst economic crisis since independence from Britain was won in 1980.
David Coltart, an MP for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said that if Mr Mugabe was unable to pay the police and army it would be “a devastating blow” to the regime. “Without the military, Mugabe is nothing,” he said.
One Zimbabwean opposition MP said that Mr Mugabe would “simply print millions of banknotes” to pay his security forces, even though this would send inflation soaring even higher. There is an another problem: the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar means that it now costs 700 dollars (50p) to produce a note for 500 (36p).
The banknotes are printed by a government-owned company in Harare. Last week, it was frantically churning out notes to meet increased demand because of inflation and last week’s strikes. The $500 note – Zimbabwe’s highest denomination note, which was worth £500 just after independence in 1980 – is now not enough to buy a bottle of beer.
Protesters said they were very concerned about the arrest of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC who called last week’s protests as a “final push” against Mr Mugabe.
Mr Tsvangirai, 51, is in custody on charges of treason for plotting to use illegal means to overthrow the government. His lawyer, George Bizos, who represented Nelson Mandela in his treason trial 40 years ago, said: “By keeping political opponents silent, the country’s difficulties will not be solved.”
Last week, Mr Mugabe threatened to expel Brian Donnelly, the British High Commissioner in Harare, for “interfering in Zimbabwe’s affairs by helping the MDC to organise its demonstrations”. A spokesman for Mr Donnelly denied any role in organising the protests. Western diplomats saw the warning as Mr Mugabe’s latest attempt to blame his troubles on the former colonial power.