‘Operation Restore Legacy was not a coup’

OPERATION Restore Legacy, which was undertaken by the military in November last year, was not a coup because it did not suspend three key arms of the State, officer commanding 3 Brigade Brigadier-General Joe Muzvidziwa has said.

Brig-Gen Muzvidziwa made the remarks during the official handover of an ECD block constructed by the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) engineers at Mugwenhi Primary School in Buhera on Friday last week.

The school, which has 274 students, was established in 1920, and its old and dilapidated infrastructure had been constantly posing a danger to pupils.

ECD pupils used to be housed in an old and substandard building.

“One of the worst threats society has ever known is poverty TOBACCO farmers in Manicaland stand to benefit from the recent announcement that two auction floors will be opening in Rusape this year.

One of the auction floors will be operated by Agritrade Leaf Tobacco, a relatively new entity, while there are market rumours that Mashonaland Tobacco Company is also mulling a comeback in a town where it once operated floors for three seasons before closing shop.

The opening of the auction floors in Rusape will come as a major relief to farmers of the golden leaf, who have been enduring the extra cost of transporting their crop to Harare.

Agritrade Leaf Tobacco field operations manager Mr Kudakwashe Saringo said his company, which started operating last year, had taken the deliberate move to decentralise their auction floors to cushion farmers.

“We have taken a deliberate move to decentralise our operations so that we go down where the farmers are,” he said.

“We have come to realise that tobacco farmers are experiencing a lot of challenges in accessing auction floors in Harare.

“It is costly for farmers in Manicaland to transport their crop to Harare and on top of that, it is risky on the road, as many kilogrammes are sometimes lost along the way due to accidents and theft. This move will also de-congest floors in Harare and facilitate the smooth flow of the auctioning system.

“Farmers are happy that we are that arises out of ignorance due to lack of education,” said BrigGen Muzvidziwa.

“This we must fight to address and should remain a guarded priority as we address challenges that confront our society.

“Allow me to illustrate this by reflecting on the current debate in the academia on whether Operation Restore Legacy constituted a coup or not.

“I will raise three issues: first, in the interpretation that resonates around the Constitution, where and when coups are executed, the first thing the military does is to suspend the Constitution of the nation by declaring a state of emergency, and the nation is under martial law, which kills the judicial arm of State.

“The second issue relates to the operation of Government, which is another arm of the State, where the military determines priorities of the State and how it would proceed, while the third is the suspension of Parliament, which is yet another arm of the State that ensures accountability.”

Brig-Gen Muzvidziwa said in cases where these three important arms of any State remained functional and were not disturbed by the deployment of the military, then only the ignorant would flag it as a coup.

“What I am saying is that constitutionality was never disturbed before, during and post Operation Restore Legacy,” he said.

“This position was well read and understood by our immediate neighbours SADC, the AU and international community at large.”

Brig-Gen Muzvidziwa said ZDF would continue to be guided by the Constitution and provide its hand in building social infrastructure in communities across the country.

ZNA, he said, will continue to interact with communities in need and complete some of its ongoing projects in Manicaland, which include the construction of classroom blocks at Mount Camel, Birchenough Bridge and Nyamauru Primary Schools in Headlands, Buhera and Dangamvura, respectively.

It will also construct a girls’ dormitory at Nyatsanza in Hauna and work on Mapako Clinic in Nyanga, among some of its projects.

“As I surrender this achievement, I want to talk about the loss of identity creeping in us; the drug abuse phenomenon,” he said.

“Anything that is abused impacts negatively on the abuser.

“Our children must never become victims of whatever kind of drug and alcohol abuse.

“Stay clear of this danger and become productive sons and daughters of Zimbabwe.”

Provincial education director Mr Edward Shumba said the project was also made possible by a $10 000 grant from Government, while the local community provided bricks, river sand, pit sand, concrete stones and labour, among other locally available materials.

“Without ZNA 3 Brigade, this block would have remained a pipeline dream,” he said.

“Words alone can never be enough. You heard us and responded in a way we never imagined. We thank you so much. However, to the ZNA and all other stakeholders, we still need your help on rehabilitation of our five classroom block, which is the oldest. The roof is no longer friendly.

“We are also willing to establish a library room, we need computers for the school.”

floors. He also said he hopes that the development would not be temporary.

“It is a positive development that auction floors are coming back here again,” said Cde Mapfumo.

“This is what we have been clamouring for. We want to have a permanent auction floor in Rusape.

Tobacco is the main crop in Rusape and surrounding areas such as Odzi and Macheke, but farmers are struggling to take their crop to Harare.