Zimbabwe’s war veterans have broken ranks with their patron President Robert Mugabe accusing him of being a dictator and ditching them in favour of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front youth league which marched in solidarity with him yesterday and organised the million-man match.
The war veterans who have propped Mugabe over the past 16 years when he faced his toughest challenge from the Movement for Democratic Change 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”.
They also accused Mugabe of deliberately neglecting and abandoning the masses, who were the bedrock of the party.
“Suddenly, ideologically bankrupt million man marches are being organized in honour of bankrupt leadership! The same leadership has failed to address the bread and butter issues which stick out like a sore thumb,” they said in a statement.
The former freedom fighters accused Mugabe of systematically decimating party political structures through which the militarised and mobilized veterans prosecuted the struggle.
The statement comes less than three weeks after ZANU-PF expelled war veterans leader Christopher Mutsvangwa from the party and two days after Mutsvangwa was expelled from Parliament.
Below is the full statement by the war veterans:
WAR VETERANS' COMMUNIQUE ON THE STATE OF ZIMBABWE'S ECONOMY, THE ZANU (PF) PARTY LEADERSHIP AND THEWAV FORWARD FOR THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE
There are problematic issues that have caused concern and restlessness to Zimbabwe's War Veterans. As a result, the War Veterans from the country's ten provinces, including all district chairpersons and representatives from all economic and other sectors, decided to meet and deliberate on these issues, on this, the 21st day of July 2016. Following that meeting, it has been unanimously resolved to issue this communique.
1. Recalling the ideals of the National Liberation Struggle in which the blood of the departed heroes was shed in order to address the National question;
2. Reaffirming the Founding Provisions in Chapter 1of the Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe, in particular Section 3 thereof, which enunciates the supremacy of the Constitution; the rule of law; the fundamental human rights and freedoms; good governance; as well as the entrenched recognition of, and respect for, the liberation struggle;
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