Backlash against ZANU-PF youth militia

The "Green Bombers", clad in their trademark green fatigues and red or green berets with the Zimbabwean flag on their shirts, have become a common but fearsome sight, particularly in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo. After the arrival of a sugar delivery van, a group of 10 young men wielding whips and batons storm a supermarket in the high-density suburb of Glen Norah. The sight of them causes people queuing outside the shop to flee. They are the ZANU-PF militia, popularly known as "Green Bombers". The young men then approach the shop manager, who they accuse of overpricing commodities, and order him to load the sugar into a waiting truck. Police stand and watch as the shop manager is harassed. The truck is then driven to a secluded area near the suburb where the sugar, about 500 kg, is shared out among the youths. This scenario has become all too common in parts of Zimbabwe, say civil society commentators. The militias allegedly sell the looted commodities on the parallel market for more than double the official price. Graduates of the Border Gezi National Training Centre, in Mashonaland Central's Mount Darwin area, the militias have gained notoriety due to their propensity for violence. GENESIS OF MILITIA Formed in 2002, the youth training programme was the brainchild of the late Border Gezi, who was then the ZANU-PF national commissar and Minister of Gender, Youth Development and Employment Creation, the ministry under which the programme falls. Speaking on national television recently, the director of the youth training programme, David Munyoro, said the programme was meant to promote discipline among the youth. Trainees were taught entrepreneurial skills such as carpentry, metal fabrication and building for purposes of self-help, he said. David Chimhini, the director of the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (Zimcet),has dismissed Munyoro's statement. "What discipline is the government talking about when the products of the training exercise loot, assault and rape?" he asked. The pioneer training centre located in Gezi's home area, Mount Darwin in the northeast, has seen hundreds of youths join the programme. They have been lured by the government's promises of jobs after the six-week training stint, with a certificate of attendance being a prerequisite to join the army or the police. Other training points have since been set up at Kamativi in Matebeleland North, Mushagashe in Masvingo, Guyu in Matebeleland South, with the latest addition being Dadaya in the Midlands. The Minister of Gender, Youth Development and Employment Creation, Elliot Manyika, announced the government's intention to open 35 other training centres countrywide. Some of the graduates of the training centres often go back to their places of origin where they are tasked with the training of other youths. ACTIVITIES In Mashonaland Central, the youths from the nearby Border Gezi training centre are reported to be intimidating remaining white farmers in a bid to drive them off their land. A local privately owned daily newspaper reported that one Johan Muller, the owner of Silver Oak farm in Beatrice, 90-km west of Harare, was recently smeared with cow dung and soaked in a muddy pool of water for staying on his farm - which had not been designated for acquisition in the state's land reform programme. The youth brigades have earned themselves notoriety for looting shops under the guise of enforcing the government's price controls, while imposing unofficial curfews in areas perceived to be opposition strongholds. "These youths are further tarnishing the image of the government by engaging in daylight robbery. They are taking advantage of the current economic problems to rob us," said shop owner Joseph Zivanai. He was finding it difficult to operate since the youths regularly accused him of overpricing basic commodities so they could 'confiscate' his goods. CRITICISM Human rights organisations and analysts have criticised the youth training programme. "The graduates are a notorious symbol of ZANU-PF's intimidatory tactics," Chimhini told IRIN. He said the proliferation of the militias across the country had instilled fear in the electorate and believed this could have a negative effect ahead of next year's parliamentary by-elections. The government has also been criticised for spending money on an "extravagant" programme when the country was struggling with its worst economic crisis since independence. Critics argue that the money being used to train the youths could be channelled towards social services instead. "We should not even be toying with the idea of a national youth service programme. Instead, the money that is being used in the project should go to fund health [care] and schools. In any case, what is it that they are being taught there that cannot be taught in schools?" asked Brian Raftopoulous, chairman of civil society group Crisis in Zimbabwe. The budget allocation for the programme was increased from ZW $418 million (US $7.7 million at the official rate) last year to more than ZW $2 billion (US $37 million at the official rate) this year. The government proposed the idea of youth national service in 1989, when the economy was still sound, but it was only two years ago during the emergence of real political opposition to ZANU-PF, that the plan was implemented. BACKLASH The ripple effect of violence, commentators say, is already evident in the manner in which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has reacted to the beatings and torture allegedly carried out by the militias. "In my constituency, there is a watertight mechanism to counter the Green Bombers. I have a security team of young men and women who have managed to chase the militias away as soon as they are reported in the constituency," said MDC Member of Parliament (MP) for St Mary's in Chitungwiza, Job Sikhala. He also accused the Border Gezi youths of looting and theft. There was an outcry recently, particularly among the independent media, after reports that products of the ruling party's youth service were being given first preference in the enrolment of journalism students at Harare Polytechnic's media school. DISAPPOINTMENT One recent graduate of the Border Gezi centre recounted his time at the centre. The graduate, who cannot be named for fear of victimisation, has since joined the police force. "There is hardly anything to eat there. In the morning we would be given a large spoon of porridge and an egg, followed by another spoonful of beans in the afternoon. Supper was also comprised of beans and we considered ourselves lucky if we could get sadza [a dry maize porridge] once in a while," he said. He recalled how trainees would be woken up early in the morning and forced to go to newspaper vending points to seize and burn copies of privately owned newspapers critical of the government. Recruits were made to chant revolutionary songs and denounce the MDC as a puppet of the West.