Who are the Green Bombers?

Jason Moyo, of the Mail and Guardian [South Africa], wrote an insightful story on May 21, 2008, "Green Bombers shore up Mugabe" describing the type of young man who decided to stay in Zimbabwe's National Youth Service, otherwise known as the "Green Bomber", and referred to as the "Taliban" by some members.
The Green Bombers, along with the ZANU-PF youth League, certain war veterans, and others, have been working with the security forces to beat, torture, and humiliate MDC supporters and alleged MDC supporters since the first election on March 29, 2008.

Moyo interviews a Green Bomber named "Howard" who explains:

"Howard now claims a higher calling. "As youths we are the leaders of tomorrow. But Zimbabwean youths want Western cultures and ideas. Some of us need to maintain our nationalist outlook."

Wearing the olive-green uniform that gave it its "Green Bomber" moniker, Howard says the NYC is something every "patriotic" Zimbabwean must go through.

"I support those of our leaders who say it [the NYC] must be compulsory," he says. "Look at me. I'm an example."

Is he willing to maim and kill to instil his brand of patriotism? "Do you think the [liberation] war would have been won if the comrades were soft with people who refused to support the struggle?"

But he insists: "We never kill. I've attacked only those who attacked me."

So what did Howard, and the 20Â 000 youths government has trained, learn in the camps? The programme's bible is a manual called Inside the Third Chimurenga, a reference to land reforms beginning in 2000.

Supposedly an account of Zimbabwe's history, it downplays the role of dozens of liberation war leaders, making way for an embellished image of Mugabe as the one true hero of the struggle.

Much of the manual comprises Mugabe's speeches, including addresses at party conferences and funeral eulogies for war comrades.

The manual refers to MDC members as "rough and violent high-density [township] lumpen elements" backed by "disgruntled former Rhodesians". The MDC is driven by "the repulsive ideology of a return to white settler rule".

And foreign governments are "enemies" using "their local lackeys to drive regime change".

Howard denies this is brainwashing, saying: "Youths that sit in front of the TV and read magazines all day are the brainwashed ones."

Howard is taking a break before his unit is deployed to eastern Manicaland, where police say the MDC is attacking Zanu-PF supporters.

"We are going there just to support the police and other security arms. Ours is only a supportive role."

For this mission he will receive a daily stipend of Z$1-billion -- only R30, but still more than the average worker earns in a day. "