“Zanu-PF has been dangling gifts
to the war vets, including cash, land and vehicles, in a bid to strengthen the
ruling party ahead of the 2018 polls - after initial thuggish methods failed to
coerce the disgruntled ex-combatants into line,” reported Daily News. “In
serving their divorce papers on Mugabe five months ago, the liberation struggle
fighters had also said pointedly that Mugabe's continued stay in power was now
a stumbling block to the country's development, adding coldly that the
nonagenarian would be "a hard-sell" if he contested the watershed
2018 polls.
“Over the years, war veterans
have served as Mugabe's and Zanu-PF's political power dynamos, playing
particularly significant roles to keep the nonagenarian on the throne in the
hotly disputed 2000 and 2008 national elections which were both marred by
serious violence and the murder of hundreds of opposition supporters.”
The primary reason why the war
veterans fell out with President Mugabe is that the tyrant has failed to honour
his word; they kept him on the throne on the understanding he would share the
spoils of power with them too. The tyrant and his cronies including war
veterans in government, security services and other strategic positions have
grown filthy rich whilst the disbanded war veterans wallowed in abject poverty.
The disbanded war veterans
wallowing in poverty hit the panic button when they realised that President
Mugabe was now manoeuvring; with the help of a new G40 faction, supported by VP
Mphoko and a few others led by Ministers Saviour Kasukuwere and Jonathan Moyo; to
have his wife succeed him as president. If the move succeeded, there was no
doubt the the war veterans will lose even the little pension and support they
were receiving from the government.
Even those war veterans with
secure positions in the Police, Army, etc. had good reasons to panic. G40
members made no secret about their disdain of war veterans’ tradition of waving
their liberation war credentials to claim special privileges in society. There
was no doubt that the G40 faction, if allowed to rule, would force most war
veterans into retirement and, for most of them, into poverty.
So for the war veterans,
disbanded or not, this a simple choice; stop the G40 faction assuming power or
be damned! No wonder them have come out with guns blazing.
Mutsvangwa and his band of
unemployed war veterans with the solid backing of the top brass in from the
Police, Army, etc. told President they are the “stockholders in Zanu PF and
Zimbabwe and everyone else was a stakeholder”. Meaning they had the veto on who
was to lead the party and the nation. They wanted VP Emmerson Mnangagwa to
succeed Mugabe as party leaders and state president.
Of course Mugabe struck deaf, blind
and mute by this, he is used to dictating his whim and everyone falling into
line with their tails between their legs. Now these war veterans are not only
dictating to him but worse still they even have the audacity to tell him they
have the veto to his vote and they are exercising their veto in deciding who
will lead Zanu PF and the country!
Ever since Grace Mugabe burst on
the political stage in 2014 with her vicious attack against the VP Joice Mujuru
it was clear this was a power grab. Grace could not bear the prospect of having
to give up the luxurious lifestyle she had got used to as First Lady and the
only she could be absolutely certain of not giving up anything is for her to be
the next president.
"So, excluding Grace might
be a divide and rule tactic and a mechanism to go after the real thinkers and
brains behind G40. It might also be a sign that Grace and her husband are
reaching out to war veterans having seen how indispensable they are,"
civic leader and political analyst Gladys Hlatywayo said.
It is tempting for the ordinary
Zimbabwean out there to consider the removal of Robert Mugabe / stopping of his
wife Grace Mugabe from becoming the next president as progress. After 36 years
of corrupt and tyrannical Robert Mugabe rule; just the thought of someone else
taking over is a monumental change! If Mugabe dropped died this minute, many
people will heave a big sigh of relief as if a whole mountain has just been
lifted off their shoulders. Many will celebrate and why not, given the
suffering and deaths the tyrant has brought on the nation.
However, the truth is Mugabe’s
departure from the political stage will mean much, very significant though the
event may be. There is a lot more to the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime
than the individual Robert Mugabe; he is the snake we all see but only the lead
snake of the hideous monster gorgon Medusa. Cutting off one snake, even the
lead snake will not end the corruption and tyranny since another lead snake
will emerge to take Mugabe’s place.
Mugabe is lead snake on Medusa – Zanu PF dictatorship
- we have but one strike.
If Mugabe was to capitulate and
disband his G40 faction and allow the war veterans to have their way and propel
Mnangagwa leader of Zanu PF that will confirm that they are indeed the
stockholders of Zanu PF with the veto to impose whoever they want to lead the
party. Come the 2018 they will frog-match us all to the polling stations to make
sure their man is state president and thus confirm they are the stockholders of
not just Zanu PF but Zimbabwe too!
If we are serious about ending
the corruption and tyranny that has plagued this nation for all these years,
then we must make sure we not only remove Mugabe from power but dismantle the
Zanu PF dictatorship too. Mutsvangwa, Chiwenga, Chihuri and all the other war
veterans who have propped up the Zanu PF regime all these years by wielding
their veto must now be told in no uncertain terms that no one has a veto.
We, the people of Zimbabwe, view
the war veterans’ use of their assumed veto to impose Mnangagwa as Zanu PF
leader with concern and suspension as that can only be a prelude of what they
will do come the national elections! War veterans have denied the ordinary
people a meaningful vote in free, fair and credible elections in the past. We
demand an end to this barbarism and tyranny now; not tomorrow, after the demise
of G40 faction, etc.; NOW!
We want a democratic Zimbabwe
where the right of every citizen to free, fair and credible elections and
meaningful vote is sacrosanct. This is the heart and soul of what the fight
against white colonial rule and, since independence, against this Zanu PF dictatorship
was about. We are now close to accomplishing that goal.
The war veterans’ rogation of
veto powers unto themselves constitute the heart and soul of the Zanu PF
dictatorship, the gorgon Medusa, and as long as they continue to exercise this
veto there will never ever be free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe. Removing
Robert Mugabe will change nothing as the dictatorship already has Mnangagwa
lined up to replace him.
Strike Medusa and all the snakes
will die. Kill one on the snakes and Medusa will grow ten more in their place
and turn us all into stone! We have but one strike; one strike!
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