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ON Thursday more than 10,000 war veterans from across the country will converge in Harare for a historic meeting with their patron President Robert Mugabe where various issues will be discussed.
The indaba comes against the backdrop of infighting among the ranks of the liberation struggle fighters who are divided along factional lines. Ahead of the meeting, President Mugabe has called the war veterans to order, warning there will be severe repercussions for members of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association who are inciting instability in Zanu-PF.
Speaking at Harare International Airport soon after arrival from Japan on Saturday, Cde Mugabe said Zanu-PF did not take orders from affiliate organisations and was prepared to disengage with associations whose members were unwilling to abide by the ruling party rules and procedures.
The President said it was common custom that war veterans and their representative organisations were subservient to the party. The ZNLWVA leadership has found itself at the centre of factional fights in Zanu-PF and the association’s chair Christopher Mutsvangwa was recently suspended from the party and expelled from Cabinet for misconduct and disloyalty.
Mutsvangwa and members of his national executive have, in spite of the censure, continued to make public statements indicating they want a fight. A fortnight ago Mutsvangwa chaired a war veterans meeting that claimed to pass a no-confidence vote on party and State Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko.
ZNLWVA secretary general Victor Matemadanda has also consistently made disparaging remarks aimed at senior Zanu-PF officials. President Mugabe’s meeting with the ex-fighters on Thursday is expected to tackle indiscipline among other issues.
On Saturday, the President said those who continued to show disloyalty would suffer the same fate as former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and her cabal.
He said the war veterans association was free to table its grievances through properly laid down structures. No association, he said, had the authority to dictate to Zanu-PF leaders how to run the party.
President Mugabe said war veterans who fell foul of Zanu-PF’s regulations should excuse themselves from the party. The late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo’s last wish on his death bed, President Mugabe said, was for Zimbabweans to remain united and this should guide all party members.
We welcome the President’s remarks and call on the leadership of the war veterans to heed his wise counsel and repent ahead of the meeting with their patron. Of late, war veterans, who are a critical pillar of the ruling party, have displayed shocking levels of indiscipline to the extent that they find nothing wrong in disrespecting senior party officials and denigrating even the First family.
The audacity of Mutsvangwa and his leadership reached new lows when they passed a vote of no confidence on Vice President Mphoko and other senior party officials clearly showing their disdain for authority and propensity to be a law unto themselves. Despite being censured by the party and the President, Mutsvangwa has continued to display an insubordinate attitude and has been making statements which show that he is unrepentant.
War veterans often take pride in their role as the reserve force of the Zimbabwe National Army but their conduct of late does not fit in with the discipline demanded of members of the army.
We call on them to refrain from making inflammatory statements and submit themselves to the authority of the party. Mutsvangwa and his group should remember that they are subservient to the party.
As President Mugabe said, Zanu-PF does not take orders from its affiliates and the sooner the ZNLWVA leadership realises this, the better for them. We hope they are not spoiling for a fight at the Thursday meeting because they will be going against their patron’s wishes.
We also pray that reason prevails and the war veterans unite ahead of their engagement with the President otherwise some of them will find themselves cast out of the party. Cde Mugabe is on record as saying he has no problems with the rank and file of the ZNLWVA members but has issues with their leaders who are misleading their flock.
The false bravado and grandstanding by the likes of Mutsvangwa may make good headlines but their conduct is deeply divisive. For their sake, we hope they realise the error of their ways and listen to the wise words coming from their patron. It’s never too late.
Online Reporter