The rogue (not all war veterans betrayed the revolution and the masses)
war veterans led by the late “Hitler” Chenjerai Hunzvi, Jabulani Sibanda and
now Chris Mutsvangwa have come a long way. Since the late 1990s they have
betrayed the value of the struggle for independence by allowing themselves to
be use as President Mugabe’s storm troopers imposing his corrupt and tyrannical
rule on the nation. It is only in the last two years or so that they have
mellowed considerable.
“The war vets will now go to give the masses the consciousness of
the tasks ahead, which are to fight corruption, fight creation of a Mugabe
dynasty, fight regionalism and fight dictatorship as well as all other social
and economic ills,” secretary-general of Zimbabwe National Liberation War
Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA), Victor Matemadanda, told NewsDay.
Coming from the organisation whose members have beaten, raped and
even murdered innocent people to impose the very regime they are now fighting;
that is sweet music to the ears! Who would believe that these rogue war
veterans would ever concede the basic truth that quality leaders can come from
anyone regardless of whether he/she fought in the liberation war or not.
“The only way to do it is to vote and find a suitable leader even
among those that did not take part in the liberation struggle. We are 14
million citizens and if we choose well among us, they should be able to serve
our common interests as a people,” conceded ZNLWVA spokesman Douglas Mahiya.
“It is not possible that there is no one who can lead better than
those in power today. We can always find one because nobody is indispensable.
Zimbabwe is greater than individuals and will be there long after we are all
gone.”
Another spell binding melodious refrain!
“We presented the war veterans as the heroes of the Zimbabweans,
the heroes of Africa. That is the biggest success that we got and it will
marginalise the elements that are against progress particularly as epitomised
by the G40 (faction of Zanu PF). The G40 is the opposite of what we want in
Zimbabwe. We have demolished them and reworked the image of war veterans and
removed the element of caricature,” chipped in the current ZNLWVA national
chairperson, Chris Mutsvangwa.
Ever since the split between the rogue war veterans and President
Mugabe started two years ago, growing into the unbridgeable chasm we see today;
the wedge driving them apart was the tyrant’s failure to deliver economic
prosperity to the war veterans. Many of the war veterans still live in abject
poverty and the current economic meltdown which has seen millions of our people
sink into poverty and despair has not spared the war veterans.
But was has made the rogue war veterans panic was the prospect of
the G40 faction in Zanu PF taking over power after President Mugabe. Grace
Mugabe, the undeclared leader of G40, has already made her position crystal
clear that there will be privileges extended to war veterans.
Chris Mutsvangwa and company are pulling all the stops to make
sure G40 does not succeed Mugabe; they know if that happened, they are well and
truly sunk!
“We are clear Zimbabweans understand what we are saying and will
know who to vote for. It (G40) is a small group of people with no social base.
Next year’s elections will tell,” said Mahiya.
If Chris Mutsvangwa and his band of war veterans have truly
repented and now value the freedoms and rights of all Zimbabweans including the
right to free and fair elections then they must demand the implementation of
all the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections BEFORE the
next elections. Why are they keen to contest elections knowing fully well
whoever has totally control of the institutions of government will rig the vote
as has happened so many times in the past unless they are hoping their man will
have a firm hand on the helm and they can assist in the usual dirty work to
secure his victory!
Mutsvangwa et al are fighting to end the Mugabe dictatorship and
to stop the creation of a Mugabe dynasty but only to replace it with a
Mnangagwa dictatorship! We want a free a democratic Zimbabwe and all corrupt
and tyrannical dictatorial rule banished forever! Our starting point is
demanding that the next elections are free, fair and credible, we will not
settle for anything short of that!
“Imweneimwe shiri inamaririro iyo!” (A bird may change its plumage
but not its signature call!) as one would say in Shona. Mutsvangwa and his band
of rogue war veterans imposed the Mugabe dictatorship on us in the past and
they do so again if we do not stop them.
2 comments:
For Mutsvangwa and his war veteran friends to be talking of supporting someone with no liberation war credentials only goes to show how desperate they now are. They have burnt all the bridges with the G40 faction they know there is no going back. If Grace Mugabe becomes president, war veterans will be with the rest of us in the gutter.
If Mnangagwa wins the factional war, Mutsvangwa and company will be beating people up to force them to vote for him just as they have been doing for President Mugabe. Anyone who believes Mutsvangwa and company are now democrats is naive. The likes of Mutsvangwa and others will be rewarded with some loot but the rest of the war veterans will be wallowing in poverty.
The people of Zimbabwe must focus on dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship and not be fooled by Mutsvangwa's halfway house of removing the dictator Mugabe but with every intention of replacing him with Mnangagwa.
Yes the formation of a coalition has sometimes produced the desired result of defeating a dictator just as a swarm of bees has driven off an elephant. What we must not do is generalise too much because not many dictators in history were removed from office by a coalition just as a swarm of stingless bees will never drive off a timid mouse much less an elephant.
We already know that the Zanu PF vote rigging machine is can generate 63% votes for Mugabe as happened in the 2013 elections as you know. So a single coalition candidate collecting the remain 37% votes will not be enough to defeat Mugabe. In the 2008 run-off Mugabe "won" 85% of the vote after beating, raping and even murdering people to overturn Tsvangirai's 73% in the earlier vote.
The problem in Zimbabwe is not that the opposition is splitting the opposition vote but that Zanu PF rigs the vote. You can pretend all you want that Zanu PF does not rig the vote but that is only playing in Mugabe's hands because he will rig the 2018 elections just as he rigged the 2013, 2008, etc.
Gambia is not Zimbabwe, just because a united opposition defeated the dictator in that country does not mean the same will happen here.
Insanity is doing the some thing over and over again and expecting a different result!
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