Army ready to quell disturbances

Chronicle Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is geared to maintaining peace and quell any form of violence during the Wednesday harmonised elections, a senior officer said yesterday. Speaking at the graduation ceremony of 181 nurses at Imbizo Barracks Medical Training School, on the outskirts of Bulawayo, ZNA Chief of Staff, Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba urged security forces to ensure that a peaceful environment prevailed in the country during elections.

“I would like to commend you for maintaining peace that continues to prevail in the country in the backdrop of negative publicity by Western sponsored media,” said Maj-Gen Nyikayaramba.

Turning to the course, he said the army was ready to help the nation in terms of health and natural disasters.
“The courses provided the graduands with a clear understanding on the nature of military health requirement during peace and war time,” he said.
However, he bemoaned challenges  faced by the graduands during their studies, and attributed them to prevailing illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West and her allies.

Maj-Gen Nyikayaramba also urged the graduands to be patriotic and use the knowledge and skills they gained for the benefit of their communities and the nation.

“The main aim of the courses was to graduands with requisite knowledge that would transform them into professionals and competent health personnel,” he said.

Maj-Gen Nyikayaramba paid tribute to all stakeholders for the support they rendered to the uniformed forces.
The graduands were drawn from the ZNA, Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS), Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ), Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Mozambican Defence Forces (FADM).

Among the graduands were 19 females and 10 foreign soldiers from FADM.
The nurses did courses which included Medical Assistant Class 3 (MA111), State Certified Traumatology Nurse (SCTN), Registered General Nurse (RGN), State Certified Laboratory Technician (SCLT) and Environmental Health Technician (EHT).

Top three graduates in all the courses were presented with prizes that included shields, trophies and prize money. The best overall student was Constable Gugulethu Ncube of the ZRP.