Despite the catastrophic decline in the economy, soldiers and ex-soldiers have stayed unwaveringly loyal to President Robert Mugabe’s government. The ZANU-PF party and its military wing have been fused from the beginning. That relationship faltered only once, when in the late 1990s the president rejected demands for pension payouts from self-proclaimed liberation war veterans. The veterans then took to the streets, with the evident support of serving officers, and threatened to disrupt an African leaders’ summit in Harare.
(24 VIEWS)
