By Netho Francisco

LAST week witnessed the pledge by security forces to continue fostering professional discharge of their mandate by producing educated officers, who graduated in different disciplines drawn from the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), Central Intelligence Officers (CIO) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).
Speaking at the graduation ceremony of a Joint Command and Staff Course Number 26, President Robert Mugabe said further academic and professional studies by security forces add value in sharpening their skills.
“The 46 weeks of study at this institution provided the graduands with the opportunity to sharpen their skills on staff procedures, logistics, leadership, command, geo-politics, strategy, military technology.
“Zimbabwe Defence Forces have excelled and earned deserved recognition as reliable and principled guarantors of our national peace and security,” he said.
The President applauded China for rendering technical support through posting of professional training staff to the Zimbabwe Staff College.
“The presence of instructors from the People’s Liberation Army of China is ample testimony of the success of the Government Look East Policy which seeks to promote cooperation between Zimbabwe and the People’s Republic of China and other Asian countries,” he said.
Western countries through their media have been publishing falsehoods that Zimbabwe security forces were not professionally carrying out their duties and were responsible for the abuse of human rights, in a way to discredit democracy that exists in the country.
Meanwhile, speaking last week at the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) graduation parade of 546 officers, Vice President Joyce Mujuru hailed the ZRP for embracing professionalism in the discharge of its duties by including human rights in its training curriculum.
“Indeed, our new people-driven Constitution places value and importance to the supreme law of our country,” she said.
“It is lauded that human rights as a subject, has always been an invaluable component of ZRP training curriculum and human development programme.”
Vice-President Mujuru said that the police should play a significant role in promoting development of the country’s economy.
“The policing efforts of the ZRP will, therefore, go a long way in the successful implementation of various Government policies,” she said.
Vice President Mujuru urged the graduands to promote high moral and to maintain the ZRP stance on anti corruption in the country.
“I urge ZRP to maintain the zero tolerance stance on corruption, and to us the public, we must also stop tempting our disciplined forces by bribing them at any given opportunity such as roadblocks, court cases and crime scenes,” she said.
The graduands completed studies in different courses that included Criminal Law, Human Rights, Public Order Management, Basic Information Communication and Technology, Concepts of Local Languages and the Political History of Zimbabwe.
In a related development, addressing, graduands from Robert Gabriel Mugabe School of Intelligence (RGMSI) last week, Presidential Affairs Minister, Didymus Mutasa said education broadens the ability and understanding of central intelligence officers in dealing with different security issues in the country.
“Capacity to disseminate the truth comes with education, it is the most important measure of minds,” he said.
“Our horizons are being broadened by way of education so that we cannot only be confined by what is happening in our nation but what is happening in the world.”
Minister Mutasa said education plays a pivotal role in shaping intelligent officers to achieve set goals of preventing the country from any security threats.
He urged the intelligence officers to jealously guard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in order to protect the interests of the nation against external forces.
“We cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together, unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for our country,” he said.
“Let us continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous Zimbabwe. 
At least 62 students graduated from the RGMSI, 34 with Bachelor of Science Honours Degrees in Intelligence and Security, 28 with Diplomas in Intelligence and Security.