Zimbabwe Army Reveals It's Hidden Hand

Morgan Tsvangirai speaks under the watchful eye of his boss, Robert "The Solution" Mugabe at the opening of the "Investment Conference" in Harare yesterday. A South African investor interviewed by ZTV yesterday said the conference was a joke because, if he invests in a factory in Zimbabwe, "I will need to drill a borehole because there is no water in the country. And then I have to buy a generator to give me power. Your government needs to address these issues first before asking investors to come in." The Inclusive government of the two men above is, however, too busy "eating" all revenue, paying for a bloated government etc to actually see that it has its priorities wrong.

On top of all this, you now have the army thumbing its nose at investor confidence as I explain in this article.

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces has now publicly come out to demonstrate that it listens to no one in the world and is essentially running the show in Zimbabwe.

Earlier today, the Defence Forces announced that they will not be withdrawing from the Marange Diamond fields, despite what the Kimberley Process Team that was in Zimbabwe this week says.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Munorwei (What do you fight?) Shava Matutu, who is in charge of the Manicaland province where Marange is located, said in a statement that soldiers will stay on at the Diamond Fields to "deal with" illegal miners and panners.

Of course, to those who have been reading this blog, it was clear from the outset that the army had no intention of moving out of the fields as promised by the Inclusive Government last Sunday. This is Mugabe and ZANU PF's private cash-cows, whose proceeds the Prime Minister and Finance Minister (both from the opposition) have neither knowledge of nor access to.

I have previously told you that we know for a fact of the existence of buckets of rough diamonds kept in the vaults at the Central Bank.

These diamonds, which are let out in tranches and sold through friendly countries as originating not from Zimbabwe, but from those friendly countries, are the ones that are keeping ZANU PF "in the money".

While the world thinks it is fixing Mugabe and his cronies by refusing to give aid to Zimbabwe, Mugabe and his people are sitting very pretty indeed. In fact, even as I write, one Colonel in the Defence Forces is in Malaysia with ALL his family, including a University student based in the United States who was flown to Malaysia for the month-long holiday.

Shiny and latest 4x4 vehicles are being purchased for the defence forces. The big cheese in the forces all live in sprawling mansions in Zimbabwe's leafiest and cushiest areas.

But what this statement from the Defence Forces reveals is that the defence forces not only defy Morgan Tsvangirai, the titular "Prime Minister" of Zimbabwe, but also the world at large. They know the power behind them is the supreme power in Zimbabwe: Mugabe, whose very word is law.

The hidden hand is this: The Army is NOT the power behind the throne. It IS the throne.