PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has extended the terms of the police and army chiefs, and the re-appointments are “irrevocable”, his spokesman said on Thursday night.
George Charamba spoke just a day after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Deputy Arthur Mutambara claimed that Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri was only acting, pending further consultations.
Tsvangirai and Mutambara said a meeting of the coalition government’s principals on Tuesday agreed that Mugabe needed to “consult and agree with the Prime Minister on the next Commissioner General of Police”.
The MDC formations are keen to see the back of Chihuri and other security chiefs, accusing them of brutalising their supporters and helping keep Mugabe and his Zanu PF party in power by subverting the will of the people.
But Charamba said the necessary consultations had been carried out, adding that Tuesday's meeting between the principals completed the process.
"When the decision on Commissioner General Chihuri's career was due, the President, as dictated by the Constitution, solicited the Police Services Commission, which tendered their recommendations in writing through the Chief Secretary to the Presidency and Cabinet,” Charamba said.
"It is that opinion, which guided the President in arriving at a decision... It is on that basis that the President extended the (Police) Commissioner General's term of office to 2014.
"The law has been fulfilled and the decision taken is irrevocable."
Charamba also said Mugabe had extended the terms of office of Zimbabwe Defence Forces chief, General Constantine Chiwenga, Zimbabwe National Army Commander Lieutenant General Philip Valerio Sibanda, Air Marshal Perrance Shiri and the Commissioner of Prisons Retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi.
He said the length of their new terms would be confirmed when their current contracts expired.
“This is a unique service, one area of public service where things must happen to law and to book,” Charamba said. "The chain of command is not based on half assumptions and tentative decision.
"There is no room for ambiguity. Disturbing and destabilising the chain of command never bodes well for the security of the State. There is finality and closure to the whole debate."
The announcement will rile Mugabe’s coalition partners who accuse the 88-year-old of acting unilaterally and abusing the constitution.
But Mugabe’s Zanu PF party wasted no time laying into Tsvangirai and Mutambara over their handling of Chihuri re-appointment.
The two men, after meeting Mugabe, retired to Tsvangirai’s Strathaven home to announce that Chihuri had not formerly been offered an extension in the job he has held since 1994.
Zanu PF strategist and politburo member Jonathan Moyo said: “Anyone who thinks that a government policy is announced at a private residence must have their head examined by a competent psychiatrist.
“Those guys (Tsvangirai and Mutambara) were speaking for themselves. If they were speaking for the government, about government, they would have done so in their offices.”
He aimed pointed criticism at Mutambara for agreeing to address reporters from Tsvangirai’s home.
“How can you go to Tsvangirai’s house to speak about government issues and expect to be taken seriously? A house does not become a government place just because you have put a coat of arms behind you. Even in a banana republic politicians do not behave like that!”
Zanu PF, Moyo said, had no appetite for engaging the MDC factions and wanted to go to elections this year to end the uneasy coalition.