Zimpapers senior editor Caesar Zvayi said that the soldier beating women in a video that went viral yesterday is actually not a soldier. The video which circulated widely yesterday, shows a soldier assaulting three women with a huge stick. It also shows two men being made to crawl on the ground on all fours to someplace. Said Zvayi:
This is barbaric. I suspect Selous Scout tactics. I do not believe these are real soldiers. Putting on military fatigues does not make one a soldier. The ZDF should get to the bottom of this! Whoever these guys are, the law must take its course.
Zvayi’s comments, however, didn’t go unchallenged. Former Minister for Higher and Tertiary Education Jonathan Moyo said that Zvayi should be careful not to blame the victims of violence. Said Moyo:
Careful. Selous Scouts were Rhodesian security agents running pseudo-operations to commit atrocities & blame them on liberation forces.
#ZDF has lied that AWOL & retired officers stole Army uniforms, trucks, helicopters to commit crimes. Are you in the operation to blame victims?
The government has rejected that men moving around in military fatigues and assaulting members of the public are soldiers. The government blames army deserters and thieves who stole military uniforms for being responsible for the orgy of violence against civilians.