HARARE – Nearly two dozen newly-acquired Chinese armoured vehicles were seen moving in a convoy in Harare this week in footage shared by presidential spokesman George Charamba.
The video shot from a parked car roadside offered the first public glimpse of hardware thought to have been delivered to the Zimbabwe army late in 2023.
The vehicles — a mix of Norinco PTL-02 wheeled assault guns armed with 105mm cannons and WZ551 armoured personnel carriers in various configurations — are believed to have been part of a December 2023 package of military aid worth an estimated US$28 million from Beijing. The handover, confirmed at the time by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Chinese ambassador at Inkomo Barracks, was meant to modernise Zimbabwe’s ageing mechanised fleet.
Charamba, in a characteristically combative post on X (formerly Twitter), wrote: “Zimbabwe continues to upgrade its defence capabilities to deter would-be aggressors. Weakness tempts!”
While Charamba’s tweet gave an impression of a new delivery, military analysts said it was more likely to be the 2023 consignment being moved from storage or training areas to operational bases.
The vehicles had not been seen in operation until now. Their sudden fielding could indicate that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) has completed crew training and integration, or that the government has chosen this moment to publicly showcase the arsenal.
The timing has raised eyebrows. Political insiders suggest that putting the new armour on the streets could be intended to shore up Mnangagwa’s authority at a moment of escalating tensions with Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, his powerful former army chief and long-rumoured successor.
“The optics matter,” one Harare-based security analyst said. “If the ZDF is suddenly parading assault guns and APCs that have been sitting in depots since 2023, it can easily be read as a signal from Mnangagwa to deter not just external threats, but internal rivals too.”
The PTL-02 assault gun, derived from China’s WZ551 6×6 chassis, provides the ZDF with mobile firepower akin to a light tank, firing shells and laser-guided missiles up to five kilometres. Its companion vehicles include troop carriers, command variants, recovery trucks and battlefield ambulances — all designed to give Zimbabwe’s army greater mobility and sustainment.
Zimbabwe previously relied on older Brazilian-made Cascavel armoured cars, many now obsolete. The new Chinese vehicles represent the country’s most significant armour upgrade in decades.
Whether the sighting reflects a simple movement of vehicles between bases or a deliberate show of force, the message from State House was unmistakable. As Charamba put it, “Weakness tempts.”
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