War vets league superior to association: Mahiya

Source: The Herald – Breaking news.

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 Cde Douglas Mahiya

Kuda Bwititi, Zimpapers Politics Hub

THE ZANU PF War Vets League is superior to the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), as the League is a bona fide organ of the party, which holds supremacy, Cde Douglas Mahiya has said.

Under the stewardship of President Mnangagwa, the ZANU PF War Vets League was formed in 2022, holding its inaugural elective congress in September of that year.

Addressing war veterans at the launch of the Presidential War Veterans Fund in Murehwa on Saturday, Cde Mahiya, who is the ZANU PF Secretary for War Veterans Affairs in the Politburo said:

“Some of the war vets did not understand the President’s vision when he said that we should form the ZANU PF War Veterans League. What he meant was that the League should be an organ of the party. As we all know, the party has the supremacy, which is the ultimate authority.

“The role of the League is to address all issues related to war veterans on behalf of the party. It should therefore be made categorically clear that the League is bigger than the association.”

ZNLWVA, Cde Mahiya said, is not officially an organ of ZANU PF but is an affiliate of the ruling party.

“I am also a member of the association, but the association cannot rise above the party. ZNLWVA should not rise above the War Veterans League, which takes its ideology directly from the party. The association operates as an affiliate of the party.”

Cde Mahiya warned some members of the war vets association against fanning divisions among war veterans.

He said war veterans who use the association to propagate divisive agendas risk retributive action.

“If the association does not sing to the tune of the War Veterans League, the ZANU PF chairperson of that province has the prerogative to blacklist such war veterans and stop them from speaking on behalf of war veterans. Here in Mashonaland East, your provincial chair Cde Daniel Garwe can stop you from operating in the province if you do not toe the party line.”

Cde Mahiya lauded President Mnangagwa’s Special Advisor, Dr Paul Tungwarara for raising funds to bankroll the Presidential War Veterans Fund.

The fund has provided interest-free revolving loans, houses, boreholes, bicycles, food hampers and other forms of support to the liberation fighters.

On Saturday, Murehwa war veteran Cde Murambiwa Mujuru received a newly built three-bedroom house from Dr Tungwarara.

To date, thousands of war veterans from the country’s 10 provinces have benefited from the fund.