Confusion rocks War Veterans

Lungile Tshuma Sunday News Correspondent
CONFUSION continues to rock the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association in Bulawayo after a meeting which was scheduled to take place yesterday and be addressed by the body’s leader Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa was cancelled under unclear circumstances.

Organisers of the meeting said the gathering was cancelled after they resolved to wait for the return of their patron President Mugabe who is on his annual leave while Cde Mutsvangwa said it was cancelled because police had not cleared it.

In addition, a “splinter” war veterans group that had threatened a demonstration had the meeting gone ahead said it was victory for them that Cde Mutsvangwa bowed down to their threats.

The Cephas Ncube-led war veterans executive in Bulawayo which had organised the meeting at the body’s offices in Entumbane said the meeting was cancelled with the instigation of the national executive which was supposed to address meetings across the country’s 10 provinces.

Cde Ncube said: “The meeting was called off as directed by the national executive. There are meetings that were supposed to be held around the country and all have been cancelled. The directive states that the meetings were cancelled and we wait for the return of the President.”

He said the cancellation of the meeting had nothing to do with the demonstrations which had been planned by the rival group.

“Those people are confused and some of them can’t even look after their own families, so how do you expect them to lead such a serious organisation like the War Veterans Association? Some are of no fixed aboard after selling their houses, leaving their families stranded. How can we expect anything good from them when they are simply not organised even at family level? For example someone like Mitsho Ndlovu once left the party to join Zapu and Mashasha has never been organised as a person as he once embezzled district funds which resulted in him being slapped with a vote of no confidence.

“We have passed a stage where we are talking about elections and at this moment we are focusing on addressing issues affecting war veterans. It is not a secret that the association is doing well and some of the issues include joint ventures with Chinese companies to assemble trucks and also chrome mining along the Great Dyke.”

However, contacted to clarify what happened Cde Mutsvangwa denied that the national executive sent an instruction to cancel the meeting.

“I am aware that the meeting was supposed to take place but it was later cancelled because the police instructed them to do so.

The executive has nothing to do with what happened today,” said Cde Mutsvangwa, who is also the Minister for the War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees.

Cde Naison Mashasha, the vice-chairperson of the war veterans’ “splinter group” said the development was a clear sign of victory on their part as they want order to prevail in the association.

He said Cde Mutsvangwa was at the moment not fit to address them as he has a case to answer in his home province of Mashonalaland West.

He said: “The meeting was not supposed to take place because the chairperson (Cde Mutsvangwa) is supposed to clean himself first before he spreads his poison to other parts of the country. If Mashonaland West province has rejected him, why then should we, the people of Bulawayo, accept him?”

Mashonaland West province recently recommended Cde Mutsvangwa censure from Zanu-PF following his utterances in the private media that were deemed as insulting to the First Family and undermining the authority of the President.