Minister of Defence Emerson Mnangagwa said in Parliament there was nothing wrong in retired Army personnel joining ZANU-PF or any other political party, but he conceded that it was “not national policy” for serving senior members to chant ZANU-PF slogans on public occasions.

He assured the House that retired Army personnel were subject to the ordinary laws of the land regarding possession and use of firearms (they have to have licenses for their guns and may not use them for criminal purposes).

He also denied that senior serving officers had been deployed to all districts as alleged by a questioner. He suggested that the misconceptions about Army presence might be attributable to retired commissioned officers (major and above) having the right to wear uniform on appropriate occasions and to the fact that at any one time up to 10% of Army personnel might be off duty in their home districts.