Simply Securocrats?

I remember answering the not-so-simple-question of what I did learn during
the years that I studied mathematics. My answer - I think it was quite
brilliant - was this: to make things simple and to keep them simple.
The "thing" of Zimbabwe is quite complex. Many scientists, journalists,
analysts, advisors, politicians, artists and other thinkers, are trying to
grasp the realities of this small country, merely more than a dot on the map
of Southern Africa.

In Zimbabwe we have several clubs who meet regularly. They often invite
speakers, who are supposed to give its members an insight in the
complexities of the realities around us, usually in 15 minutes, including
"question time". These sessions intrigue me. How do speakers simplify things
within such a short time, for diverse audiences like "Friends of Hwange", "the
Rotary Club of Harare City", "Professionals in Tourism" and "the Wine and Dine
Society of Zimbabwe"?
The common denominator of all the speakers addressing the "thing" by trying
to find "solutions" and "the way forward", is this analysis: the biggest
stumbling block for a newer and better Zimbabwe is the existing power of the
so-called securocrats: the cabal of men who are leading the army and police.
Their influence in the formulation of government policies is enormous and
disastrous. All speakers I have heard in the last year stressed this point
with great emphasis.

The offered solutions by the eminent speakers vary quite dramatically:
"bring them to the International Court of Justice"; "retire them under a
general amnesty"; "educate them"; "wait till they die" and are debated with
great enthusiasm in the backrooms of hotels and club rooms.
Recently I read the thought provoking "Architects of Poverty" written by
Moeletsi Mbeki, the brother of the former president of South Africa.
Because of its title you should buy it! Although it addresses my quest on
the issue of Zimbabwe intensively, it does not mention directly this threat
of Securocrats, in brief the book states that the economic policies of the
elite are ruinous for the majority.

The very interesting book "The New Asian Hemisphere" of Kishore Mabubhani, a
philosopher from Singapore, lists the essential conditions for a country to
prosper. It does not list a condition that army generals should stay in the
barracks. It shows again that the hardest part of a problem is to agree on what the
problem is.