The Muzorewa-Smith regime is intending that the security force auxiliaries, or private armies, play a significant role in the forthcoming Common Roll elections at the end of February. A number of correspondents and other observers have reported to the effect that "the auxiliaries are being deployed around the country with the deliberate intention of coercing people into voting for Bishop Abel Muzorewa, leader of the United African National Council (UANC)".
There is now considerable evidence that in contravention of the terms of the Lancaster House agreement on Rhodesia, the auxiliary forces were not withdrawn to base on 28 December 1979, the start of the ceasefire period, but continued to be deployed around the country. On 6 January Lord Soames revealed that he had authorised units of the Rhodesian armed forces to leave their bases to assist the Rhodesian police to maintain law and order. British officials in Salisbury subsequently confirmed that members of the security force auxiliaries were still guarding protected villages, regardless of the ceasefire.
These revelations by the British authorities in Salisbury followed a series of protests from the Patriotic Front, to the effect that sections of the Rhodesian armed forces, notably members of the auxiliary forces, the Selous Scouts and "paramilitary formations", had not been withdrawn but were instead moving into areas evacuated by Patriotic Front guerillas. In a message to the British Prime Minister on 8 January, the President of ZANU (Patriotic Front) Mr Robert Mugabe stated that there was "absolutely no evidence that the auxiliary forces of Bishop Abel Muzorewa have disengaged and assembled at any base". He further alleged that areas from which the Patriotic Front had withdrawn were being reoccupied in a definite strategic pattern", in contravention of the Lancaster House agreement.
The security force auxiliaries developed out of the private armies recruited by the black parties to the internal settlement agreement of March 1978. The regime itself claims to have, or to be in the process of training, more than 25,000 auxiliaries, following the announcement in November 1979 of a crash programme to recruit and train an extra 15,000 men. The regime's military preparations were reflected in a 19% increase in its defence and security expenditure at this time, bringing its official spending on the war to about £0.9 million a day, nearly 41% of its total budget. Rh$ 42.9 million out of supplementary estimates totalling Rh$ 84.5 million and tabled in the House of Assembly in November 1979, was set aside for the expansion of the auxiliary forces.
While the SFA's operate in practice as a paramilitary wing of the UANC, they have been officially part of the Rhodesian security forces since July 1979, when it was announced that they were being integrated into the Combined Operations structure, issued with a standard uniform and paid regular salaries.
The auxiliaries played a key role in turning out the vote for the UANC in the April 1979 elections and there is extensive evidence that they have been responsible for intimidation and harassment on a wide scale, as well as general crime and lawlessness. While they include a number of former guerillas, the majority have been recruited from the unemployed and criminal elements, the prison population and in some cases from protected village. They are given only rudimentary training.
The SFA deputy chief of staff, Commander Max, a former guerilla and a member of the UANC, attended the Lancaster House talks together with the regimes's Commander of Combined Operations and the BSA Police Commissioner, to be on hand for "consultations" as required. In November 1979 Max stated that any suggestion that the SFA's should be suspended or disbanded during the transitional period should be treated with "contempt".
In the field, the auxiliaries have little direct contact with the regular Rhodesian army and are controlled through liaison officers drawn from the Rhodesian Special Branch, the Selous Scouts or other intelligence services. At the end of 1979 it was reported that a new formation called "Group Five" had been set up within the security forces under the command of a former officer of the Rhodesian SAS, which would co-ordinate the activities of all auxiliary and "special forces" such as the Selous Scouts and their successors.
The auxiliary forces are almost certainly responsible for many of the alleged "cease-fire violations" reported by the regime since the end of December. Considerable evidence for this has been collected by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. In one incident on 5 January 1980, for example, more than 150 auxiliaries were reported to have moved into a village in the Weya TTL between Salisbury and Umtali, the day after Patriotic Front guerillas had left the area for assembly points. 13 young people were arrested and had not been heard of since. A detailed report of beatings and intimidation by auxiliaries was being sent to Lord Soames by the CCJP.
Descriptions of the way in which the regime is intending to use the auxiliaries during the run-up to the elections have been published in the press following a visit to an auxiliary training camp arranged for pressmen by the Rhodesian Ministry of Information – apparently without the knowledge or consent of Lord Soames's office. The camp was situated at Zaka, in the Ndanga TTL, about 50 miles south-east of Fort Victoria. "The only election posters in the vicinity were those of the UANC, even though the region is known to be a stronghold of Mr. Robert Mugabe's ZANU (PF) party". According to Major Nick Fawcett of the Rhodesian army, the auxiliaries' main function is to "win over the local population and to motivate it to support the (former) Government of National Unity and its administration". Another function is to "propagate the national psychological message" of "Zimbabweism", comprising the four principles of nationalism, democracy, livelihood and peace, and through which the auxiliaries are projected as the people's friends and defenders against "communist terrorists".
For the last six months, according to these reports, the auxiliaries in the Fort Victoria area have been operating on the basis of the "green area concept". An auxiliary unit of about 50 men is placed in an area of four miles in diameter from which they first expel the guerillas and then establish themselves among the local population. Once this is done the area under their control is gradually enlarged, with the aim of establishing a chain of interlocking "green areas" to completely neutralise the guerillas in that region. Major Fawcett estimated that almost a quarter of the 120,000 inhabitants of the area around Fort Victoria were now covered by "green areas". "The auxiliaries can introduce a counter-ideology and organisation and can support their activities with force", Major Fawcett stated. He explained that one of the auxiliaries' tasks in the forthcoming elections was "to educate the people in the voting procedure".
