adminWhile the institution should serve as an accomplishment by Government and the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the college will not only serve the military but other sectors including civilians from both the public and private sectors.
It was high time the country came up with such an institution to play the role of a think tank. Such colleges are also found in China, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan where they are reported to be greatly contributing towards the enhancement of these countries’ national strategic designs with the main objective of ensuring national security. Our newly opened National Defence College will act as a national think tank on national security matters and provide input to the Government and armed forces whenever necessary. The National Defence College will also have to maintain academic links and partnerships with national think tanks and defence universities of friendly countries such as China and Pakistan.
It is also commendable that the college also has an academic partnership with the University of Zimbabwe. Such interaction will help add richness and depth to quality research work. The National Defence College will draw its students from the Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Republic Police, Zimbabwe Prison Services, the intelligence service as well as other strategic Government institutions.
The institution’s programmes will further equip the country’s security services and senior civilian personnel with the requisite skills required to safeguard Zimbabwe’s territorial integrity, national interest and its citizens. In the ever-changing global village that we live in today, it is imperative for the country to keep abreast with latest trends in all facets of socio-economic activities. Having gallantly executed the war of liberation, which brought about Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces has since then been scoring numerous successes in the areas of community service, international peace keeping and national programmes. Now with the National Defence College in place, we can only see the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the other sectors of Government that are expected to benefit from this institution scaling greater heights in matters of national security and national interest.
Like in other countries where such institutions have been established, the National Defence College should be a centre of excellence in academic and research in various disciplines that will provide well thought out input on national security, promoting critical inquiry and scholarly debate in the service of the country and protecting the national interest. Given that Zimbabwe has been under the illegal economic embargo imposed by the Western countries for the past decade, the National Defence College could not have come at an appropriate time.
Already our security services have distinguished themselves at home, in the region and internationally by professionally executing United Nations peacekeeping missions and the new college will help them improve their skills. The college will offer members of the defence forces other security arms and senior Government officials the opportunity to appreciate each other’s institutional interdependence and capabilities. Students at the college will be capacitated in directing and managing of defence, security and other related areas of public policy.
The Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces President Mugabe summed it up all when he said the negative publicity Zimbabwe has received from Western media and the current volatile global political and economic environment has served as a wake up call and warning for the country to enhance its security consciousness to survive such assaults. The President made the remarks yesterday while officially commissioning the college.
He said the establishment of the NDC was a result of the obtaining global security environment.
“Thus a strategic decision was taken by the Government in 2004 to establish an institution to conduct training on the formulation of a comprehensive national security strategy under the ambit of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. It is this strategic decision that culminated in the establishment of the National Defence College,” he said.
President Mugabe said he hoped that the establishment of the NDC would successfully “transform the minds of those who may still not understand our situation and enable them now to view national problems with a common vision”.
Indeed as Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa said, the establishment of the National Defence College will buttress Zimbabwe’s prominence in international politics because after the successful implementation of the land reform programme and as the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme takes root, it requires the nation to have a pool of strategic thinkers which it can call upon when the national interest is under threat.
Online Reporter