daniel chigunweJoseph Madzimure Senior Reporter
PREPARATIONS for the congress of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association to elect new leadership is underway, with the elective congress set for soon after this year’s harmonised elections in a few months.
The last congress was held in 2013, in Masvingo where Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa was elected as the substantive chairman.
However, the elective congress was supposed to be held every five years, but was deferred owing to a number of reasons such as the rebirth of the Second Republic, restructuring of the party and Covid-19 induced national lockdowns.
In an interview yesterday, Mashonaland Central ZNLWVA chairman Cde Sam Parirenyatwa, who is also the association’s acting spokesperson, said the war veterans are ready to hold the elective congress as stipulated in the constitution.
“We are ready to go for the congress as stipulated in our constitution. While we are waiting for the congress, Cde Mutsvangwa will remain the substantive chairman.
“The failure of the association to hold an elective congress as prescribed by our constitution was a result of reasons beyond the control of the association executive and everyone else. However, the structures of the association and the relevant stakeholders have been kept abreast on our levels of preparations for the congress to take place,” he said.
He stressed that the elective congress shall only be held after the national harmonised elections.
“Currently, as advised by our Patron the President, the elective congress shall only be held after the national harmonised elections. We stand guided by our Patron and all our structures are well informed and compliant. Any member of the association who needs to contest for any leadership position should be patient and wait for that time to come.
“We advised our membership in the provinces that its time that we go for the congress. After we had appraised our members we then wrote to the President who is our Patron to advise him of our intention.
“We also wrote to the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Professor Paul Mavima so that he is aware. When we wrote to President Mnangagwa we then received an advice from the President that we need to defer the congress until after the harmonised elections,” said Cde Parirenyatwa.
Dates for holding the elective congress will be advised in due course.
He urged war veterans to remain patient and disciplined warning some rogue members who are seeking to destabilise the association by conducting some unsanctioned meetings.
“We do not want lawlessness within our rank and file. We had to abide by the word of the highest office in the land, the word of the President. We are saying to our membership; we have to wait for a little bit longer. We will hold our elections after the harmonised elections as advised by the President Mnangagwa who is our Patron,” he said.
He challenged members to complement Government efforts to improve the welfare of its members.
“As of now, we urge our members to concentrate on finding ways of complementing Government effort to improve the welfare of our members and to strategising on the defence and promotion of our revolution, campaigning for our party and patron.
“A lot has been achieved by the current leadership of the ZNLWVA for the veterans of the liberation struggle, among them the bravery and his historic defence of our revolution as the leadership fought the G40 machinations resulting in the ushering in the New Dispensation, the creation of the veterans of league, urging Government to produce a 20 percent cabinet directive to ensure improvement of war veterans welfare, putting pressure on Government to increase our pensions, just to mention a few,” he said.
Online Reporter