Mugabe must go: Vets insist

Source: Mugabe must go: Vets insist – DailyNews Live 22 January 2017

Tendai Kamhungira and Farayi Machamire

HARARE – Agitated war veterans have reiterated their call for President
Robert Mugabe to leave office now, adding derisively yesterday that they
would not “waste” their time quarrelling with Zanu PF youths who have said
that they are prepared to take up arms to defend the nonagenarian.

Speaking to the Daily News, the spokesperson of the Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Douglas Mahiya, was emphatic
that Mugabe – who turns a mature 93 next month – could not continue to
lead the country.

He also took a swipe at Zanu PF youth leader Kudzanai Chipanga who said
earlier this week that party youths were ready to go to war against former
freedom fighters and other supporters of Vice President Emmerson
Mnangagwa, in defence of Mugabe – saying Chipanga had “no idea” about wars
and their deadly consequences.

This comes as Zanu PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo was
also insisting yesterday at a press conference held at the party’s
headquarters in Harare that Mugabe would be the party’s presidential
candidate in next year’s eagerly-anticipated national elections, as
decided at the party’s disputed 2014 congress.

“The youths do not know what taking up arms is all about. They only hear
about it. Nobody in their right mind wants a war, especially those who
were once involved in one. What the youths are saying is childish.

“What we are simply saying is that a 93-year-old may, naturally, not be
fully capable of discharging their duties in the office of the president,”
the forthright Mahiya said.

However, Chombo was adamant that Mugabe could only be challenged
internally at the party’s 2019 elective congress.

“Some of you, including the press elect not to read,” Chombo said, adding
that the Zanu PF congress was the only party event that was held to elect
the person who would represent the former liberation movement in future
elections.

“We are saying this so that newspapers do not create confusion where there
is none. In 2014, we elected our president.

“We said then that all those who want to be president should raise their
hands. Everyone rushed to lift the president’s, saying `we want Mugabe, he
is the one we want to be president of the party’.

“This was a mandate for five years. So, anyone who wants to come in now
can only do so at the 2019 congress. Logically and mathematically, it’s
all very clear and straightforward . . . there is no shortcut. So what is
bothering our reporters?” he said – bizarrely appearing to blame Zanu PF’s
worsening tribal, factional and succession wars on the media.

And as Chombo was railing against the Fourth Estate, the ruling party’s
two main factions, the Generation 40 (G40) group and Team Lacoste, were
openly exchanging blows over Mugabe’s bitterly-contested succession.

“The presidency is not a straightjacket. We also understand that when our
parents went to war, they were fighting for one man, one vote.

“So, any attempt by anyone to impose a leader on us in Zanu PF will be
resisted fiercely by the youths who are even prepared to take up arms in
defence of that principle. We are not going to be intimidated by anyone,”
Chipanga thundered ominously earlier this week.

On his part, Mahiya said former freedom fighters did not want war with the
youths, but were simply giving them guidance on Zimbabwe’s history, the
basis of the country’s 1970s revolution and how Zanu PF’s succession
should be managed.

“We cannot force them to accept our advice if they refuse to understand.
In any case, we don’t want to fight anybody, although we are so
experienced about wars,” Mahiya said, adding that the youths would not get
any support from anyone to wage their threatened war, unless they enlisted
“the services of mercenaries”.

The majority of war veterans and other supporters of Mnangagwa, such as
vocal Zanu PF member Energy Mutodi, have been vociferously calling on
Mugabe to stand down, in addition to calling for the holding of an
extraordinary congress to choose a new leader for the ruling party.

“The reasons for the liberation war were clear. It was a war to end racial
discrimination. Our liberators wanted to achieve equality among all the
people of this country. It was not a war to change the face of the
oppressor from white to black.

“As we speak, life in Rhodesia was much better than life in independent
Zimbabwe as Rhodesia offered enough jobs for all.

“There was no nepotism and discrimination on tribal grounds like what we
see today. The economy is now on its knees due to economic mismanagement,
corruption and poor policies.

“Millions of youths are unemployed and see no reason why they should
continue supporting a status quo that is insensitive to their plight,”
Mutodi thundered yesterday, following Chipanga’s threats.

He said it was heart-rending to note that some of the youths who were born
after Zimbabwe’s independence had never been employed and had become
parents under Mugabe’s leadership, whose 2013 two million job promise
“remains a pie in the sky”.

“As a party, Zanu PF has failed to attract foreign investment and the
passing of laws that scare away investors has made the youths hopeless,
hence the need for leadership change,” he added.

Mutodi also said Chipanga was “trying too hard to curry favours” with
Mugabe through “poisonous” bootlicking.

“He is an active member of the G40 and has benefitted immensely from the
corrupt deals that they are facilitating for each other. He therefore
doesn’t care about the millions of youths who are wallowing in poverty,”
Mutodi claimed.

“No one must aspire to stay in power forever. Everyone who wants to lead
must be given an opportunity to stand in an election and not be expelled
from the party. It is not a crime for one to aspire to lead,” he said
further.