How to trim defence spending in Zimbabwe

Last week I suggested that the Zimbabwe government was a burden on the taxpayer and should be trimmed. That is always easier said than done but this week I will make very specific proposals as to how to cut government expenditure in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe government should develop a more realistic defence policy which recognizes that we have no natural enemies in southern Africa: none of our neighbors have any known territorial claims against us. Despite ZANU-PF leader Robert Mugabe's paranoia, neither the Brits nor the Americans have any desire to re-colonize Zimbabwe for any reason.

Those who keep making this assertion are plainly delusional, which is not entirely surprising given the advanced age of those who keep making these claims.

Furthermore, our membership in SADC means that we have the added security of a common defense policy with our neighbours. At the very least, we have an opportunity to propose and champion such a common defense policy if it were not already on SADC's agenda.
Granted that while our defence build-up in the post-independence era may have been driven by the apartheid regime in neighbouring South Africa, in more recent years it has been motivated by the political vulnerabilities of the septogenarians and octogenarians running the country.

What would such a new defence policy look like? One may understably wonder why we need a defence ministry at all given the prospects of regional integration, our land-locked status and lack of natural enemies. However, since I cannot predict the future, I am willing to stipulate that we need a defence establishment, leaving open the question of what size of defence department and at what cost to the taxpayer?

If it was up to me, I would look to the Swiss model but having already conceded the point for the sake of advancing the argument, I suggest that what Zimbabwe needs is a fierce fighting force of about ten thousand men and women, roughly a quarter of the current defence force.

This goal cannot be achieved over-night but is achievable in the long term by means of attrition and reorganisation. Any new government emerging from the current chaos should preferably set up a commission to study this matter and come up with firm proposals about how to trim our defence spending in line with a new set of national priorities.

If all other reasons fail, affordability should suffice and guide any future defence policy.

Next week, I will suggest more ways to rescue Zimbabwean taxpayers from the grip of greedy political schemers.