"In 2008, they mobilised us to set up various
bases to campaign for them in different parts of the country. We were forced to
work against our own brothers and sisters but after that, they didn't do
anything to appreciate our efforts," said Manicaland war veterans
chairperson Angeline Muponda.
"We are now growing older but we have nothing
to show to our kids, we are struggling to feed our families and pay school fees
for our children. We have suffered enough; we want to tell Zanu-PF that we
don't eat slogans."
If only I had forced the likes of Mutsvangwa,
Mahiya, Maponda and all the other war veterans who have expressed similar
sentiments to pay a penny each time they complained of how Zanu PF has used
them and then discarded them like used toilet paper; I would be a billionaire
in my own right!
There are two things these disgruntled war veterans have
failed to grasp. First, they must stop pretending that they were in anyway coerced
to harassing, beating, raping and even killing innocent Zimbabweans to impose the
de facto one-party cum one-man dictatorship we have today. They have done all
this dirty work out of greed, they were cock sure Mugabe will reward them for
helping him become a dictator by granting them a share of the absolute power, the
social influence and the material wealth.
“War veterans and collaborators, have over the
years served as Mugabe 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,” wrote
Bulawayo 24 Staff reporter in the article War collaborators dump Mugabe.
Mugabe, as the war veterans themselves have now
finally realised, use and abused the war veterans and discarded them. Most of
them are living in abject poverty, just like the rest of us, the innocent victims
of the decades of corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship.
The war veterans owe the nation an apology for betraying
the liberation war values of freedom and justice for all in helping Mugabe
impose the dictatorship; regardless of whether they are one of the lucky few
who were rewarded by the tyrant or one of the many who were kicked in the teeth
and now languishing in poverty and despair.
Second, it is clear that most of these rogue the war
veterans have not only failed to accept they were wrong and thus repented for doing
Mugabe’s no-regime-change dirty work but, worse still, they will do this again.
The war veterans have failed to see that the de facto one-party/one-man
dictatorship IS evil and is the root
cause of the nation’s economic meltdown and political chaos. It is therefore
not enough that Mugabe must go but the whole dictatorial system of government
must be uprooted and destroyed.
The war veterans have been demanding that the
current dictator, Robert Mugabe, must go and replaced by VP Mnangagwa. Those
war veterans who have already been kicked out of Zanu PF are realigning
themselves with Mai Mujuru or MDC with the view of forcing the electorate to
support these just as they have done for Zanu PF. We do not want another
dictator or dictatorship!
We want to implement all the democratic reforms
design to stop war veterans or anyone from terrorising the people and rigging
the vote for selfish political gain. We want the next elections to be free,
fair and credible!
7 comments:
The failure to appreciate that liberating the country meant freedom, liberty, justice and human rights for all and not just those lucky few and their families who seized power in 1980 is what made it so easy for a tyrant like Mugabe to build the dictatorship. He only had to tell those around him they were one of the lucky few and they took up the task of building the dictatorship with the devil's zeal. They did not see anything wrong with instituting a corrupt and oppressive system, worse than the white colonial system the nation had gone to war to remove.
The dictatorship was corrupt and wasteful of both human and material resources and it was no surprise that Zimbabwe's economic decline started soon after Zanu PF took office and it has been on this downward spiral ever since. It is not surprising many of the people President Mugabe promised prosperity if they helped him build the dictatorship, the war veterans and others, he gave them the odd gratuity payment but little else.
Even those who benefited from the dictatorship, many of them have been side-lined and soon thrown away and forgotten. Party grandees like the late Enos Nkala and Nathan Shamuyarira lived their last days in abject poverty. The latter’s wife told mourners the family was so poor she could not afford the bus fare to be at her husband’s death-bed.
As the country's economy continued to shrink the tempo at the Zanu PF high table has gone from luxury, to hectic to the present dog-eat-dog. in 2014 Mai Mujuru and 150 other party big-wigs were booted out of the party and many of them are "suffering and dying from stress", she confessed. Zanu PF is imploding!
The failure by the like of Maponda, Mahiya and even former Minister Chris Mutsvangwa - whom one would think his education would help him to see beyond the tip of his nose - to see that dictatorial rule will never bring prosperity even to the ruling elite is unforgivable. The last 37 years have been a total disaster for the nation, anyone with even half a brain should see that.
If the war veterans think the country is going to allow the dictatorship experiment to continue, even with a new dictator, for another day they are whistling in the graveyard!
The freedoms and basic human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country is not only an inalienable right but, more significantly, it is the foundation of free, just and prosperous nation at peace with itself. We have waiting for this blessing in Zimbabwe for 37 years, we are not going to wait another day longer! We want free, fair and credible elections now, that is not negotiable!
@Sgelekeqe
One of the most prominent and vociferous war veteran tyrant is Jabulani Sibanda, I thought he is Ndebele.
Minister Obert Mpofu is one of the most corrupt Zanu PF leaders, no doubt he is Shona!
We have a serious problem here of a corrupt and tyrannical regime which we must get rid of; you are not being helpful by seeing it as a tribal and not national problem. The good and bad people in all the tribes just as there are good and bad apples in tree; you do not cut down the tree to get rid of the bad apples.
BVS is only as good as the people operating it. Yes there were a lot of "ghost voters" in the last elections which is why Zanu PF has refused to release the 2013 voters roll. Zanu PF paid NIKUV the princely sum of US$ 10 million to corrupt the 2013 voters roll anyone who thinks that NIKUV will not be able to corrupt the BVS is naive!
The old system of identifying voters by their name, address, ID no., etc was laborious but anyone could check for errors. Only those with computers can check BVS and NIKUV are experts in computer programming, they will have a field day in terms of corrupting the system!
Sources in the MDC-T said the decision to throw Mujuru under the bus in the by-election was informed by Gopo's allegedly tainted history of political violence in the 2001 by-election, where an MDC-T supporter died.
The MDC-T's decision, the sources added, was also inspired by "lessons from the Norton by-election", where Temba Mliswa turned against the opposition party soon after being elected, as well as the need to gauge ZimPF's support so as to have bargaining power in the coalition.
"Firstly, I think you know what happened in Norton, where the party was taken for a ride by Mliswa despite supporting and campaigning for him," a source said.
"Secondly, Gopo is a sidekick of Claudius Makova, now a senior official in Zim PF, who is accused of a reign of terror in Bikita West in the 2001 by-election."
If MDC-T is looking for people who have not shed innocent blood then they are wasting their time, Zim PF is a party of thugs. Zim PF is Zanu PF in all but name!
George Charamba says President Mugabe told him the story of US$ 15 billions of diamond revenue was swindled was a lie.
“Then the bombshell: "Figure yandakangotaura zvangu kuti zvityise, kikikiki!" wrote Charamba in his Manheru column.
Nonsense! Zanu PF spent at least US$4 billion to bankroll its 2013 elections including $10 million paid to NIKUV alone. The late former Zanu PF Mines Minister, Edward Takaruza Chindori-Chining, said in a parliamentary report in 2013 that there was looting in Marange as no records were being kept of the quantity and quality of the diamonds being mined. With no records being kept, those mining the diamonds were free to steal and loot and they did at a grand scale. The former minister feared for his life for producing this report and he dead a few months later on 19 June 2013 in a suspicious road accident.
Former MDC Finance Minister during the GNU, Tendai Biti, has complained that government revenue from diamonds has been falling although mining activities had increased by leaps and bonds. The current Zanu PF Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, admitted last year that government revenue from diamond was one sixth of what he expected.
Corruption of diamond wealth in Marange is rampant and, worse still, the wealth is being abused to kept the regime in power! Diamonds should have been our ticket out of poverty but because of corruption it is now a curse.
"We are not participating in the Bikita West by-election because of our no reforms no election resolution and I can authoritatively say, on behalf of the party, that there is no official endorsement of any candidate in the Bikita West by-election," said Obert Gutu.
Yet the MDC-T has already said it will contest next year’s elections although the party has accepted that not even one reform was implemented or is likely to be implemented in the remaining months. Indeed, MDC-T endorsed Themba Mliswa in the Norton by-elections a few weeks ago! Gutu is talking rubbish, as usual!
We went to war to end the exploitation and discrimination of blacks by the white colonialists. It is a great pity that many of those at the coal face of the struggle the war veterans led by President Mugabe and his cronies have betrayed the people and have since become the new oppressors. It is right and justice has been served that the rogue war veterans have themselves been betrayed by President Mugabe and thus got nothing, Yes Maponda, you were used and then forgotten!
We have failed to deliver a free, just and prosperous society because of the greed of the tyrants and rogue war veterans. We must focus on getting this important task done and must not allow ourselves to be distracted by greed individuals like these war veterans who still think the war of independence was about them and everyone else must wait until their have had their fill of power and wealth!
People like Maponda, Mahiya and other war veteran leaders must be held to account for all the crimes the war veterans committed against innocent civilians in the name of Zanu PF!
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