Thursday 24 November 2016

War veterans are threatening to join povo to push Mugabe's hand.

The war veterans must renounce their “stockholder of Zimbabwe” and thus the veto on the election of nation leaders if they expect the people to belief them that they have switch sides and are on the people’s side. So far the war veterans are using the threat to switch sides to force Zanu PF to grant them greater privileges.

"The legitimate leader for war veterans is Chris Mutsvangwa. So, if whatever endorsement (of President Mugabe as Zanu PF candidate for 2018) has been made didn't come from him, that endorsement is meaningless," Douglas Mahiya told the Daily News.

"As we have said before, we belong to all political parties. Hatisi kuzoisa vanhu vavamwe vanhu, tiri vanhu veruzhinji rweZimbabwe (we will never endorse other people's candidates as we and the people are one). You must know that everyone in Zimbabwe contributed something towards the liberation war.

"This is why we say we are going to stand on the side of the people and support everyone who respects the ideals of the liberation struggle. After we were expelled from Zanu-PF we became a national apparatus. We won't align ourselves to a certain group or certain individuals anymore," he added.

Mahiya is right there, “everyone in Zimbabwe contributed something towards the liberation war”. Even those who are known to have fought the liberation war on the whites’ side as Dzakutsaku and Puruvheya such as Giles Mutsekwa, the nation has accepted their indirect contribution in that they had a brother, uncle or some such family member who fought on the right side.

However, there is a disconnect on the liberation war “ideals”, he and the other war veteran association members, have been talking about so eloquently in the last year. It was none other than these same war veterans who, until last year, who have been denying the people their freedoms and human rights, the liberation war ideals; to further President Mugabe’s no regime change mantra.

Before independence the rallying call was “One man! One vote!” Forcing people to accept Mugabe and Zanu PF particularly when the regime has proven beyond doubt to be corrupt and tyrannical makes a mockery of the right to vote.

The war veterans themselves concluded that Mugabe has “dictatorial tendencies” hence the reasons they are refusing to endorse him as party candidate for the 2018 elections as is the norm. So this time they are determined to have a meaningful say on who the Zanu PF candidate in 2018 is to be but they will not want the same right extended to the Zimbabwe populous!

Mr Mahiya and many of the war veterans, including top brass security services chefs have declared that they are “the stockholders of Zanu PF and Zimbabwe” and thus wield the veto over who can and cannot party and nation leader regardless of what everyone one else says. This is undemocratic and thus totally unacceptable for two reasons:

a)     Like it or not Zanu PF is NOT a private club whose affairs is a private matter concerning party members only; what is going on in Zanu PF affects us all since this is the party in government. The very fact that the party also receives public funding through the 2001 Political Parties (Finance) Act means every Zimbabwean has a right to question what is happening in Zanu PF, MDC-T or any political party getting or likely to get public funding.

For any group in Zanu PF to claim and exercise veto power over the election of party leaders runs against the grain of Zimbabwe as a multiparty democracy. The country has no business funding a party of thugs!

b)    After imposing of Mnangagwa on Zanu PF there is no doubt that the same war veteran thugs will be imposing Mnangagwa on the nation just as they have imposed Mugabe until now. By objecting the war veterans’ move to impose Mnangagwa on Zanu PF, we are heading them off at the pass!

For the last 36 years the people of Zimbabwe have been fighting for their freedoms and human rights so heartlessly denied them by this Zanu PF regime. The same war veterans now claiming to be on the people’s side because Mugabe failed to honour his promise to make them rich have been the regime’s foot soldiers in the brutal oppression.

The war veterans are using the threat to join the people only as a bargaining tool to force Zanu PF to grant them greater say in the running of the party. If the war veterans are granted their wish they will be back on their old posts harassing, beating and even murdering povo to force them to vote for Mnangagwa and Zanu PF. We, the people, must refused to be used as a political football to be kicked around.

Mahiya and his rogue war veterans must renounce their undemocratic claim as stockholder of Zimbabwe and thus the veto to impose on the nation a candidate of their choice. They must then join in the fight for the dismantling of the Zanu PF dictatorship followed by free and fair elections. The war veterans’ offer to remove one tyrant, even if that tyrant happens to be Robert Mugabe, but only to replace him with another is totally acceptable!

The people’s right to free, fair and credible elections is not negotiable. It is the key to ending the country’s economic meltdown, to good governance and to a future full of hope. 

2 comments:

Zimbabwe Light said...

Josseya Hungwe says there will be war if Mugabe does not win 2018 elections!

Here is a man who has spent the last 36 years doing nothing and being paid well for it. He does not want the good times to end and is threatening the nation with the same barbarism of 2018 if anyone threatens the status quo. What Hungwe is refusing to accept is that the present corrupt and tyrannical system has completely failed to meet even the most basic necessities of life for most of our people.

Minister “of nothing” Hungwe 90% plus of our people are out of work, there is no clean running water in all our cities and towns, health and education services have all but collapse. Whether you like it or not, accept it or not, this is socially and politically unsustainable. Things have to change and change they will!

It is a great pity that MDC failed to implement meaningful democratic reforms when they had the opportunity to do so during the GNU.

We are where we are! The best course of action now is to demand the implementing of all the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Taking part in an electoral process whose outcome is predetermined and, if necessary limps will be broken and lives lost, is an exercise in futility!

Zanu PF will be forced to accept reforms if no one in the opposition participated in the elections. Some opposition will want to take part for the sake of winning the few seats Zanu PF always throws to the opposition. We must make sure these sell-out opposition politicians know exactly what they are doing in no different from the actions of Dzakutsaku of Mapuruvheya during the war of independence.

It is ironic that Minister “of nothing” Hungwe sold-out during the war of independence is at it again! The whites paid him to sell the blacks and he did it with passion now Mugabe is paying him to sell povo and he is doing it again. This time we must hold these sell-out to account because we cannot build a just nation with so many queuing to sell the innocent for whatever they can get!

Zimbabwe Light said...

NERA to hold a demo next Wednesday.

Zanu PF has refused to implement even the wishy-washy NERA! What is plan B Mr Tsvangirai? Are you going to boycott the coming elections as you had originally said or are you going to fight over the scraps Zanu PF throw at you?