THE MILITARISATION OF CIVIL SECURITY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF COMMANDO DEPLOYMENT UNDER LT GEN ZYEELE- Fred M’membe

THE MILITARISATION OF CIVIL SECURITY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF COMMANDO DEPLOYMENT UNDER LT GEN ZYEELE

The recent deployment of elite military commandos into the public sphere represents a profound institutional shift that challenges the established boundaries of civil military relations in Zambia.

In a constitutional democracy, the line separating external defence operations from domestic law enforcement must remain distinct.

By-passing the standard operating procedures of the Central Joint Operations Committee (CJOC) civil law enforcement to deploy specialised combat units within the domestic arena risks fundamentally altering the nature of state-citizen engagements.

Crucially, by ordering these specialised forces out of the barracks prematurely, the Army Commander Lieutenant General Geoffrey Choongo Zyeele  has disrupted the established escalation protocols governing state security.

From a constitutional standpoint, the role and governance of the military are explicitly defined. Article 192 of the Constitution of Zambia establishes the Defence Force and outlines its primary national security functions.

While legal frameworks, including the Defence Act, Chapter 106 of the Laws of Zambia grant the military the scope to perform duties in the public interest as determined by the President, this authority is traditionally governed by strict thresholds of civil necessity.

Under Article 91(1), the President serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force, meaning that structural military deployments should flow from explicit executive directives rather than unilateral initiatives of command.

By allowing commandos to exit the barracks at such an early, unverified stage of domestic tension, the military leadership under Lieutenant General Geoffrey Choongo Zyeele has by-passed the critical intermediate steps of civilian policing.

Zambia Army Commandos are forces specifically trained for high intensity, lethal operations rather than civilian containment or investigative policing.

Deploying them prematurely sidelines the regular Zambia Army and the Zambia Police Service. When elite forces are utilised before civilian law enforcement capabilities are proven inadequate, it short circuits the constitutional checks designed to prevent the militarisation of ordinary civil spaces.

Academic consensus on security sector governance emphasizes that an over hasty reliance on specialised combat units for domestic operations erodes public trust in democratic institutions and increases the probability of severe human rights violations

For Zambia to protect its long-standing democratic stability, the military command must realign its operations with the spirit of statutory frameworks.

Specialised military units like the Zambia Army Special Forces should immediately be returned to their barracks, where they ought to remain until a clear, constitutional threshold of civil distress demands their intervention.

Domestic security interventions must adhere strictly to established constitutional oversight mechanisms, ensuring that civil authorities retain primary jurisdiction over internal public order.

Public comments made by Lt Gen Zyeele regarding security operations, illegal mining enforcement, and political actors have sparked concerns from critics who argue that such rhetoric risks blurring the line between non-partisan state defense and partisan politics.

Political discourse regarding the dynamic between Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and Zambia Army Commander Lt Genl  Zyeele highlights varying public and political perspectives on the military’s role in governance, Mr Hichilema should watch out for the competence of his army commander.

Public commentary regarding the competence and role of the army leadership reflects a variety of views within Zambia’s democratic space.

Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party