Q & A
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: I thank you Madam President. Could I ask the Minister of Defence if at all we are under threat on our eastern border and what our policy is with our neighbours when they are destabilised?
THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE (HON. SEN. DR. SEKERAMAYI): I want to thank the Hon. Senator for that question. The situation that we have is that inside Zimbabwe, we have got peace all over and that is something to be very proud of. Along our border with Mozambique there are cases of people or rebels, to put it bluntly, who are fighting against primarily the Mozambican Government and not against Zimbabwe. As you know, whenever there is conflict, there is a lot of movement by people running away from being assaulted seeking refugee status in areas which they consider to be safe. So what we have along our eastern border with Mozambique is a process of people leaving Mozambique coming to seek safety and refuge in Zimbabwe.
From a purely security point of view, we do not regard that border as a major threat to our security but as we have said before, if a situation should arise requiring us to take action, we will not be found wanting and if that situation does arise, we will let the people of Zimbabwe know and we will take the necessary police and military steps to defend our border, people and the rest of our country. I thank you
*HON. SEN. MACHINGAIFA: My question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Defence. Last year we asked regarding civilians who are found wearing fashionable military attire which is said to be illegal. In Harare, a lot of civilians are wearing fashionable military camouflage. There are shops that are selling this type of regalia. What are you going to do? Are civilians going to be prosecuted and what steps are in place to prevent the public from buying and wearing this type of regalia?
*THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE (HON. SEN. DR. SEKERAMAYI): Madam President, this is a very pertinent question. Zimbabwe and other countries are saying it is illegal for any civilian to wear military attire or some look alike fashion army regalia if you are not in the military.
We know it had become fashionable to wear look alike fashion army attire and people would even be showing off in that attire. We prohibit this because some people who were wearing that regalia yet they did not belong to the military were engaging in illegal activities such as raping, corruption, murder and armed robbery and innocent civilians would then end up blaming the military. That is why, we are saying, it is illegal for anybody to wear military regalia or anything camouflage.
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