What role should security sector reform play in Zimbabwe’s renaissance? This paper, published by the Royal United Services Institute in September 2009, argues that security sector reform (SSR) must be a fundamental component in Zimbabwe’s stabilisation and reconstruction, and suggests ways to achieve this. Zimbabwe’s economy has revived since the establishment of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in February 2009. However, developments in the security sector will dictate whether the nation’s recovery is durable or temporary.
Zimbabwe’s Government of National Unity (GNU) was created on 15 February 2009 and has achieved more than many had hoped. Inflation has been reduced, supermarkets have full shelves, the South African rand and the US dollar are now used for trading, and civil service employees have returned to work.
There are seven key developments that are ‘frontloading’ security and SSR onto the national agenda in Zimbabwe:
- The National Security Council has been established and convened for the first time. It will be the key forum for civilian oversight of civil-military relations.
- The National Organ on Healing and Reconciliation has begun the difficult but vital task of social peacemaking. The security sector will have to acknowledge the violence against civilians over the past four decades.
- The regional and international community is beginning to engage with Zimbabwe. This will have to be buttressed by a coordinated approach to political and security sector engagement with Zimbabwe.
- Zimbabweans themselves (including many in the security sector) have expressed the desire for a new national security agenda.
- Political violence continues and there has also been a surge in random crime. Only a return to de-politicised security sector mandates and capabilities will enable these threats to be addressed.
- The 15 September 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) which led to the creation of the GNU, has past its first anniversary. There will be intense scrutiny of what has been achieved in the domain of security.
- Zimbabwe has a history of excellence in international peacekeeping operations, but security at home has to be better aligned with international competency.
Zimbabwe cannot be seen as a ‘classic’ post-conflict nation because peace in this instance was brokered between politicians rather than between military groups. SSR in Zimbabwe may be messy and open-ended.
Zimbabwe needs a National Defence and Security Strategy (NDSS) to define a road map for security in Zimbabwe.
- The NDSS would need to integrate traditional defence policy with the state and security sector’s responsibility to provide human security to all of Zimbabwe’s people.
- The NDSS would be part of a wider political, economic and judicial reform process that has already begun. SSR would be an integral part of the NDSS.
- Although there is a role for international assistance in the NDSS process, it must be Zimbabwean-led. The NDSS should be a consultative process and should not be punitive.
- Zimbabwe needs a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There can be no sustainable peace without formal acknowledgment of the violence by both perpetrators and victims.
- The UK still has an important role to play in Zimbabwe’s security transformation. There is scope for a mutually beneficial Zimbabwe-UK security and development partnership.
