THE Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has placed army and intelligence officers in control of key state institutions in an attempt to retain military support and quell discontent amid widespread hunger and opposition threats of mass mobilisation.

The attorney-general, chief executive of the Grain Marketing Board (the national food monopoly), and the head of the country’s electoral commission are all now serving or retired officers of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), as are several members of the newly created Senate.

Last week Mugabe put Constantine Chiwenga, the ZDF chief, in charge of tax collection after reports of corruption at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. The Financial Gazette, one of the last independent newspapers, was taken over by the Central Intelligence Organisation.

While Mugabe has been appeasing those at the top by handing out positions and seizing white farms, there are growing indications of unrest in the ranks. So many junior officers have been leaving because of poor pay and lack of food that last month the government issued a ban on quitting before the completion of 10 years’ service.

The discontent is symptomatic of that of most Zimbabweans struggling to find just one meal a day. The country’s economy has shrunk more than any other in the past five years and inflation is now 1,150%. World Health Organisation statistics released on Friday showed life expectancy to be shorter than anywhere else: 34 years for women and 37 for men.

Last week Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), began a nationwide tour to drum up support for his planned “winter of discontent”.

The government promptly warned opponents against attempts to unseat it and threatened to “eliminate them physically”, but Tsvangirai, who has survived two assassination attempts, remained defiant. “This is a typical defence mechanism from a government that knows they don’t have an answer to the people’s plight but are determined to keep power for power’s sake,” he said.

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