BY CHENGE MAHOMVA

In print | December 6, 2007

What happens when Zimbabwean state institutions can no longer manipulate and restrain civil society to the whims of the dictator? The Zimbabwean government has to find another weapon to use and the weapon of choice is Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization.

The CIO, the official intelligence agency, can be simply described as the corrupt and ugly distant cousin to the United States’ CIA. The CIO was created by colonialists in the early 1960s in order to keep an eye out on Southern African revolutionaries (or terrorists). When Zimbabwe received independence in 1980, it would have been intuitive to disband the CIO. However, the CIO was kept and, in an ironic turn of events, the CIO now terrorizes and harms Zimbabweans in a manner that is similar to the colonial CIO. The only difference is that Zimbabweans now suffer at the hands of their fellow countrymen. The CIO’s presence makes a solution to the “Zimbabwean Crisis,” the undemocratic state and the searing economic meltdown more complicated as it has made the tenacity of Zimbabwean mentalities insipid.

The CIO’s greatest strength is that is has had the ability to dilute the influence of opposition parties. One party, the Movement for Democratic Change, is presently Zimbabwe’s most feasible and influential opposition party. The party appeals to the Shona ethnic majority, the Ndebele ethnic minority, small and large business and landowners and even the small Zimbabwean white community. The MDC unites everyone because most people share the goal of overthrowing President Robert Mugabe. The power of the MDC was shown by their slight electoral success in 2000, where the party won 57 electoral seats even under electoral conditions that where generally declared undemocratic.

Sensing that the MDC was threatening the power of Mugabe’s party, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, the CIO unleashed a plan that swiftly split the MDC through infighting. The bonds between the different groups within the MDC are fragile as their interests vary; the only common interest is for economic reform and the removal of Mugabe. The CIO was very aware of this and used the media to put pressure on the already brittle bonds between the interest groups within the MDC.

The CIO has a firm hold on Zimbabwean media; the World Press reports that The Financial Gazette, The Daily Mirror and The Daily Mirror on Sunday, three of the most popular and once independent newspapers, have now been infiltrated by the CIO. Eddie Cross, a leader within the MDC, wrote earlier this year, “This past week the MDC has been headlines every day — all negative stories designed to show that the MDC is divided, its leadership weak and indecisive and that we are incapable of really effecting change.” With only two independent newspapers left, it was difficult for the MDC to oppose these claims and at present the MDC’s political power has been diluted as the party has split into two factions.

The CIO is relentless and at times creative with the undemocratic and unlawful tactics that it uses to discredit opposition leaders. In the run-up to the 2002 presidential elections, the CIO put MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on trial for treason. The evidence was an alleged grey and spotted filming of a conversation between Canadian-based political consultant Ben-Menashe and Tsvangira. The BBC reports that, “it was obvious that the tape had been heavily edited in an amateurish attempt to put incriminating words into Mr. Tsvangirai’s mouth. The clock in the corner of the CCTV [closed-circuit television] footage kept on flicking backwards and forwards.”

The CIO also has the ability to make the constitution and the laws that govern Zimbabwe malleable. In the late 1990s, the CIO started suspending and confiscating the passports of human rights activists and journalists who the CIO felt would discredit the president. When the CIO began its confiscations, it was both illegal and unconstitutional. In order to prevent people from appealing, the constitution has recently been amended. The CIO’s actions have made finding a solution to the “Zimbabwean Crisis” more complicated as these actions have shifted Zimbabwean mentalities. Through fear, the CIO has managed to move Zimbabweans away from striving for change regardless of the cost. The CIO has different divisions and some of the most feared units are those who recruit inconspicuous civilian youth under a flirtatiously innocent name: The Zimbabwe National Youth Service. The common nicknames for this group, however, such as “the Green Bombers” and even “the Taliban”, give insight into the torture and pain they inflict on citizens suspected of supporting the MDC.

To illustrate the CIO’s ability to hamper a solution, one only has to look at Operation Murambatsvina, a.k.a. “Operation Drive Out the Trash”. This operation was cloaked under the pretense that its aim was to reduce the spread of infectious disease through eradicating squalor. The operation attacked and demolished the homes and small businesses of the urban poor. The UN reported that 700,000 Zimbabweans lost both their homes and there income because of Operation Murambatsvina. It is no coincidence that the urban poor were targeted. The MDC’s core support comes from Zimbabweans living in urban areas.

This situation makes a solution to the Zimbabwean crisis complex, so that neither an Iraq-style military invasion nor the current fruitless negotiations between the MDC and ZANU-PF can change the new Zimbabwean mentality: To hell with collective action … my survival comes first!

Chenge is a first-year. You can reach her at cmahomv1@swarthmore.edu.

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