Leaders of Zimbabwe’s war veterans boycott Mugabe speech

Leaders of Zimbabwe’s war veterans today boycotted the speech by President Robert Mugabe to honour fighters of the country's independence war, widening the rift with Africa's oldest leader, whom the veterans have asked to step down, the international news agency Reuters reported today.

The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) last month denounced Mugabe, 92, as a divisive dictator, in a jolting rebuke underlining mounting anger over economic woes.

The ZNLWVA executive was absent from National Heroes Day celebrations in the capital to honor living and dead fighters of the 1970s liberation war against white minority rule.

This is the first time leaders of the group have failed to attend the celebrations since ZNLWVA was formed in 1990.

The group has anchored Mugabe's election campaigns since 2000, when the first major opposition to the president emerged with the formation in 1999 of the main opposition party Movement For Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

ZNLWVA secretary general Victor Matemadanda said his group had boycotted today's event because it had lost its meaning.

"We said as an executive we have no reason to attend because it is not intended to achieve the true goal to honour the war veterans," Matemadanda told Reuters.

"We said because we are being persecuted continuously, there is no reason why we should go there. In fact if you go there, you will never know what they will think, maybe they will think of arresting us or other comrades who have not been arrested."

Mugabe's government has arrested and charged war veterans' leaders in a crackdown against his formed allies.

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