The Zimbabwe National Army and their mandate in Zimbabwe: 1980-2015

Abstract

With the remarkable decrease in the outbreak of large scale wars in the 21st century which traditionally has been regarded as the sole legitimate mandate of military organisations, armies have been facing difficulties on how they can articulate their roles in peacetime periods and remain relevant in situations where their very presence is challenged and questioned. In order to sustain the military institution and respond justifiably to these challenges, governments, policy makers and the military itself began to reformulate mandates and responsibilities of military establishments on the basis of their varied and complex social, economic, ideological, technological and environmental conditions and as a way of measuring and monitoring performance, rules and laws were enacted which not only legitimated these roles but also made them legally binding and mandatory. As the mandates of armies expanded and broadened in response to changing conditions of society which required the military to balance its war and non- war functions, it became clear that the ability of the military to handle all its responsibilities as is mandated by its regulatory legal framework was strained and overstretched. The purpose of this study is to map and identify the mandates of the military during free war periods with particular reference to the Zimbabwean army and it largely seeks to answer the question of why sometimes there are variations between the mandated roles and the actual activities. The ZNA is one of those armies whose mandate has not been meaningfully articulated thus inviting a litany of complaints and queries from a variety of sources over the ability of the military to fulfil its mandate. The study focuses on the period between 1980-2015 and it endeavours to establish the degree of compliance to the legal framework by the Zimbabwean army using the data obtained from a variety of stakeholders who interact with the military on regular basis. The paper thus attempts to review, unpack and deconstructs the main debates and conceptual paraphernalia which has been arraigned to construct the arguments for or against the mandates of the military in Zimbabwe. The fundamental question: what checks and monitoring mechanisms are in place to ensure and guarantee that the military acts in accordance to its mandates is also covered. The findings indicates that resource constraints are removing and compromising the ability of the army to uphold some of its mandates but there is adequate reason to believe that there is sufficient will and interest by those within the military to fulfil and honour their mandated commitments.