OPPOSITION Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) leader, Joice Mujuru has ruled out a possible coalition with war veterans aligned to Christopher Mutsvangwa, saying there was no logic in joining forces with the latter, as they have declared their allegiance to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Source: Tsvangirai, Mujuru divided over war veterans – NewsDay Zimbabwe January 4, 2017
BY RICHARD CHIDZA
ZimPF spokesperson, Jealousy Mawarire said Mujuru had no wish to work with Mutsvangwa in the envisaged coalition of opposition parties to help fight President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF in the 2018 general elections.
“Mutsvangwa and his small group of war veterans have been very clear that they are bidding for a Mnangagwa presidency. They have never been part of us and, for all we know, they are fighting for a return to Zanu PF,” he said.
“We are, however, very clear that the coalition we seek should remove Zanu PF from power, not entrench its rule through Mnangagwa.
“We have the greater chunk of former freedom fighters in our party led by leading commanders in the struggle against colonialism. Mutsvangwa and his proxies like Victor Matemadanda (war veterans’ secretary-general) and Douglas Mahiya (war veterans’ spokesperson) are very junior people in this regard.”
With talk about a possible coalition of opposition forces in Zimbabwe growing with each passing day, insiders have indicated that MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who is touted as a possible presidential candidate in the event of a coming together, has been sounding out different groups including Mutsvangwa’s Zimbabwe National Liberations War Veterans’ Association.
“It is highly probable that the kind of coalition that is likely to come out of the ongoing talks could include war veterans and Mujuru’s party (ZimPF),” an MDC-T source said.
“These groups have notable constituencies that may have a great effect on the outcome of the coming elections.”
MDC-T spokesperson, Obert Gutu said Tsvangirai would seek out all “progressive Zimbabweans” in his bid to find a way of legally deposing Mugabe.
“We have a structured position led by our president regarding the issue of a coalition. Tsvangirai will talk to all concerned Zimbabweans and the war veterans are a critical mass that is remembered for bringing independence. We cannot afford to ignore them,” Gutu said.
But, Mutsvangwa said his group was not interested in the coalition talks.
“We are not a political party, but we are ardently keen on seeing all patriotic Zimbabweans coming together to address the economic atrophy engendered by G40 vision-blind management,” he said.
G40 is reportedly a Zanu PF faction opposed to Mnangagwa taking over from Mugabe.
COMMENTS
All war veterans need to be involved in this very important chapter of our history. Segregating them is a negation of what this country is supposed to become. Any reconciliation begins with the war vets from both sides of the conflict. We have the obligation to look after them but not be intimidated by them to.
Their needs must be looked at by all parties thus the relevance of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. There cannot be any one party claiming to own them as they the veterans belong to all Zimbabweans and as such must be looked upon and looked after by any future government . Their needs far outweigh what they have gone through and those politicians who think otherwise must be replaced as this is a sign of their insensitivity to the needs of others including the wider populace.