War veterans, the state and The Herald

Readers of The herald must have been shocked to read a story today where the government is dismissing a communiqué released by war veterans on Thursday.

The war veterans broke ranks with their patron, President Robert Mugabe, accusing him of being a dictator who had ditched them in favour of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front youth league which organised the million-man match and demonstrated its support for Mugabe on Wednesday.

The war veterans said they were shocked and dismayed at the dictatorial tendencies of Mugabe and his cohorts which had “slowly devoured the values of the liberation struggle” and accused Mugabe of deliberately neglecting and abandoning the masses, who were the bedrock of the party.

The Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai saluted the war veterans for publicly acknowledging that President Robert Mugabe has outlived his relevance and as such should immediately resign.

The opposition party called on Mugabe to take heed of the very clear advice that he had been freely given by his erstwhile comrades, the war veterans.

The secretary in the Ministry for the Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees,  Walter Tapfumaneyi, dismissed the communiqué arguing that all patriotic freedom fighters were behind and loyal to President Mugabe and his government.

But at the same time he acknowledged that “some” war veterans had actually met but had distanced themselves from the “traitorous and treasonous” communiqué.

What was interesting is why the statement was coming from the government and no the war veterans themselves, bearing in mind that there are already factions with the former liberators’ organisation some of which are against the present leader Christopher Mutsvangwa who is reported to have engineered the statement.

Statements issued by the war veterans have been denounced by one faction or another in the past, so why did the government feel it necessary to step in this time?

As for The Herald, was it not short-changing its readers by taking on a story it had ignored the previous day as it had not covered the communiqué at all?

Even if the communiqué was issued by rogue veterans, should the paper not have published the statement first and leave its readers to decide?

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