Source: G40 dead in the water: War vets – DailyNews Live
Tendai Kamhungira 22 May 2017
HARARE – War veterans say the end is “definitely nigh” for the Zanu PF
faction which is rabidly opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa
succeeding President Robert Mugabe – which goes by the moniker Generation
40 (G40).
At the same time, the disgruntled former freedom fighters also claim they
have now buried the hatchet with Mugabe and his influential wife Grace –
as the warring ruling party’s convoluted politics keep changing gears.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily News yesterday, the vocal
chairperson of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association
(ZNLWVA), Christopher Mutsvangwa, said the ex-combatants having been very
critical of Mugabe over the past year, the parties had now buried their
differences.
“As chairman (of the ZNLWVA), I want to assure the public and the national
body politic that there are no contentious issues between ZNLWVA and their
patron (Robert) Mugabe, the president of the republic. By the same token,
war veterans are delighted with the ever warming relations with the first
family as a whole.
“We also take this opportunity to reassure all and sundry that we have
excellent relations with the entire defence and security establishment.
“General (Constantino) Chiwenga (military boss) enjoys our utmost trust
and confidence … the bonds of blood are too strong to be torn asunder by
the mahumbwe (silly) type of trickery of the G40,” Mutsvangwa said.
Zanu PF insiders who spoke to the Daily News yesterday said Mutsvangwa’s
statements were “in sync” with recent developments in Zanu PF’s
ever-changing politics which had seen the G40 coming under severe pressure
from Mnangagwa’s party allies, Team Lacoste, over the past three months.
War veterans have been feuding with Mugabe since they issued a damning
communique against the increasingly frail nonagenarian mid last year.
Until that happened, the angry ex-combatants had served as Mugabe and Zanu
PF’s power pillars, waging particularly brutal campaigns against
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC, especially in the bloody
elections of 2000 and 2008.
Their stunning fallout with Mugabe and Zanu PF later saw Mutsvangwa being
fired from both the Cabinet and the ruling party last year, while many of
their other top leaders were also banished from the brawling former
liberation movement, in addition to being hauled before the courts.
Zanu PF insiders have also previously told the Daily News that there is an
ongoing realignment of alliances within the deeply-divided ruling party,
and that it was no coincidence that ex-combatants had suddenly decided to
soften their stance towards Mugabe, whom they also lavished with praise
last month for the comments he made at the burial of former Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss for the southern region, Zenzo
Ntuliki.
Mutsvangwa told the Daily News yesterday that they had “no problems” with
the first family, and their enemies were G40s whom he once again accused
of trying to put a wedge between them and their patron.
“The end is definitely nigh for the G40 cabal and its diabolic power grab
pretenses. The inescapable reality is that the G40 is facing its waterloo.
Its organisational paucity has been exposed glaringly.
“And the people of Zimbabwe are poised to mete out terrible punishment to
these would-be power grabbers for their crimes that delivered an economic
meltdown unprecedented for a peacetime nation,” the garrulous Mutsvangwa
said.
He said the current onslaught on Zanu PF national political commissar,
Saviour Kasukuwere – who insiders claim is one of the G40 kingpins – was
“a sign” that the faction was nearing its end.
“The drowning Kasukuwere … has long been the bete noire of the War
Veterans Association … This political charade has finally run out of its
course.
“It has been a torrid season (for the G40), with the (Jacob) Mudenda
inquiry, the vote of no confidence by 10 party provinces and the thorough
drubbing of the G40 pretender by chairman (Ezra) Chadzamira in the
Masvingo party provincial elections,” Mutsvangwa said.
Kasukuwere has been fighting to save his political career over the past
few weeks, with angry Zanu PF supporters pushing for his ouster from both
his party and government positions, over a raft of charges which include
allegedly plotting to topple Mugabe from power.
Also under fire has been his brother Dickson Mafios, who is the acting
Zanu PF chairperson for Mashonaland Central.
Kasukuwere’s fate was set to be decided at last week’s postponed politburo
meeting, after a probe team appointed by Mugabe to investigate allegations
against him had completed its work.
Insiders have also previously told the Daily News that Kasukuwere’s party
rivals are “systematically working for his demise” – in the same manner
former Vice President Joice Mujuru was chased out of the warring former
liberation movement in 2014.
Analysts have also said it was clear that what had started as a seemingly
hopeless campaign against Kasukuwere had snowballed into “a huge crisis”
for him – as all the party provinces, including Mugabe’s home region of
Mashonaland West, had now endorsed the push to have him jettisoned from
his powerful party post.
“It’s difficult to run away from the conclusion that Mugabe is the chief
architect of the goings-on in Zanu PF. After all, the same tactics that
were used on Mujuru are now again being deployed against Kasukuwere.
“He (Mugabe) has a tendency to deceive his lieutenants, pamper them with
praises and even promise to bail them out when in fact he would be
plotting their downfall,” political analyst Gladys Hlatywayo told the
Daily News last month.
Other observers have also said Mugabe’s failure to resolve Zanu PF’s
thorny succession riddle is fuelling the ruling party’s deadly infighting,
which is worsening by the day.
The 93 year-old has studiously refused to name a successor, insisting that
the party’s congress has that mandate: to choose a person of their own
choice.
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