Zimbabwe - War Veterans
The veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, which ended with the country's independence in 1980, have traditionally been a key bastion of support for Mugabe. The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) is a powerful arm of Zanu PF. For many years, the war veterans, by 2016 fighting in Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s corner in the Zanu PF succession race, have been the bedrock of Mugabe’s continued hold on power.
The War Veterans Act of 31 March 1995 provided for the establishment of schemes for the provision of assistance to war veterans and their dependants; to provide for the establishment of a fund to finance such assistance; to provide for the constitution and functions of the War Veterans Board. “Vocational training” included any form of education or training which, in the opinion of the Minister, will permit a war veteran to support himself and his dependants or will increase his capacity to do so. “War veteran” meant any person who underwent military training and participated, consistently and persistently, in the liberation struggle which occurred in Zimbabwe and in neighbouring countries between the 1st January, 1962, and the 29th February, 1980, in connection with the bringing about of Zimbabwe’s independence on the 18th April, 1980.
Through military training, soldiers' bodies are shaped and prepared for war and military-related duties. In the context these former Zimbabwean soldiers found themselves, their military-trained bodies and military skills are their only resource. Former soldiers maintain and 'reuse' their military-trained bodies for survival, in a context of high unemployment and a violent, inner-city environment. Their social world and practices of soldiering -- a term that refers to the specific forms of their social interaction in exile, through which they keep their memories of their military past alive. By attending to their subjectivities and the endurance of their masculine military identities and bodies, demilitarization largely focused on the failure of models of intervention to assist ex-combatants in post-conflict contexts.
The Government ordered its gangster militia of war veterans and ZANU-PF supporters (whose tactics were becoming indistinguishable from those of Mussolini's brownshirts) to deliver a clear message to white farmers that any resistance to the chaotic land resettlement program was futile and would only result in injuries or death. By 2001 approximately 92-95% of all white-owned farms in Zimbabwe had been listed for compulsory acquisition, with the government aiming for 100 percent.
According to press reports, war veterans and ZANU-PF supporters armed with spears and axes went on a rampage the week of 02 July 2001 in Mwenezi, in the southern province of Masvingo, beating up farm workers whom they accused of supporting the opposition. One baffled farmer in the area told journalists: "it is very dangerous for us to move around the farm because the war veterans have become very hostile. the whole area has been turned into a battlefield." On 05 July, groups of axe-wielding war veterans reportedly brought the town of Plumtree, a border town 100 km southwest of Bulawayo, to a standstill when they harassed workers at companies they accused of participating in the July 3-4 stayaway organized by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). The war veterans allegedly threatened to take over the companies and demanded the transfer of all of their managers. On July 5, the game ranch of an American citizen was occupied by war veterans dropped off by a police Land Rover.
On 23 January 2001, the independent "The Daily News" reported that war veterans and a "hired crowd," led by war veterans association president Chenjerai Hunzvi and self-styled farm occupations leader Joseph Chinotimba, besieged its Harare offices for several hours. The newspaper reported that war veterans blocked traffic, jostled "Daily News" journalists covering the event, beat up passers-by who failed to chant ZANU-PF slogans, and damaged two office windows. Apparently, no war veterans entered the newspaper's offices, however.
The 24 January 2001 government mouthpiece "The Herald" characterized the demonstration as a "solidarity march" to show Zimbabwean support for the DRC. Observers reported that the unruly crowd waved professionally- printed placards criticizing the newspaper's report that most Zimbabweans were elated by DRC president Kabila's death. The January 25 "The Herald" reported that war veterans in Mutoko District of Mashonaland East Province demonstrated against the "The Daily News" for the same article. The demonstrators said they would ensure that the independent paper was never circulated in mutoko again.
This wave of war veterans actions in urban and Matabeleland areas - opposition strongholds - indicated that ZANU-PF had not written these areas off as presumed, and that it may extend its intimidation campaign to include these areas in the run-up to the early 2002 presidential election. The ruling party had a lot of ground to cover before the election. It was expected to use its "war veteran" shock troops more frequently over the next year in ways that are difficult for the statutory security forces to do, i.e. To rein in wayward local government structures and to intimidate traditional opposition supporters, such as teachers, urbanites, and the independent media.
Minister of Home Affairs John Nkomo on 16 May 2001 ordered police to arrest "people masquerading as liberation war veterans, [who have been] going around extorting money from company owners and employers under the pretext of solving long-standing labour disputes." Nkomo said their actions constituted extortion and kidnapping and he advised anyone who has been forced to pay money to report their experiences to the nearest police station. Nkomo then emphasized that "we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to bring the perpetrators to book."
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association chairman and ZANU-PF member of parliament Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi died in hospital on the afternoon of 03 June 2001. Although press reports speculated that Hunzvi was ill with cerebral malaria, it had been an open secret that he long suffered from HIV/AIDS. Hunzvi's departure from the scene did not end the bitter divisions that had wracked the war veterans' association. ZANU-PF rising star and Harare war veterans leader Joseph Chinotimba came into conflict with Hunzvi's old rival Endy Mhlanga, the association's secretary-general.
Although Mugabe had done little in the past to curb the association's internal strife as a way to keep Hunzvi in check, he wanted to minimize rivalries to ensure that the war veterans did not lose their way and cease to function as the ruling party's shock troops. Mugabe wanted to reassure Hunzvi's erstwhile proteges that they will be well looked after and that they will continue to be an integral part of the president's re-election strategy. The last thing Mugabe wanted to see was so-called war veterans melting away from the occupied farms.
By 2016 backing for Mugabe by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) appeared to be crumbling. The ruling ZANU-PF party expelled four leading war veterans in 2016 after they called Mugabe “dictatorial.” A stinging communiqué crafted by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), discrediting President Robert Mugabe and his government. the war veterans, a reserve military force, announced they would no longer be supporting a “dictatorial” Mugabe. The same war veterans had no qualms demanding that Mugabe step down to make way for Mnangagwa. At a counter rally, organised by Mugabe to neutralise the damning statement from the war vets, the country’s military and state security chiefs were conspicuous by their absence.
War veterans reaffirmed their support for Zanu-PF and its “original and authentic leadership”, saying the current manner in which the party is being run was driving them away from the revolutionary party. In a frank exchange of views in Harare 13 NOvember 2016, war veterans told the Minister responsible for their welfare, Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube, that if the current set-up was allowed to continue, the revolutionary party’s enemy would succeed in destroying the party from within. The veterans condemned corruption in all its forms, adding there was a nexus between corrupt elements within the party and those driving them out of the party.
Apart from members of the Presidium, most of the senior positions in Zanu-PF’s Politburo are occupied by people without liberation credentials — some of whom were pre-pubescent youths at independence. The war veterans also denied the authorship of the Blue Ocean document and the controversial July 21 communiqué which purported that the freedom fighters had severed ties with President Mugabe and Zanu-PF. The war veterans pointed out that the two documents were part of a nefarious and broader scheme by the enemy to draw a wedge between them and Zanu-PF.
Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube, the Minister responsible for veterans, said the ministry reminded the war veterans that as a Government ministry, they had a mandate to unify war veterans and ensure that they had a harmonious relationship with the revolutionary party. “The ministry responded by reaffirming its executive mandate to organise and unify the veterans of the liberation struggle,” he said. “The desired end state being a unified, organised, responsibly led and loyal fraternity of veterans of the liberation struggle which is in a good relationship with the party and its leadership for the benefit of the whole nation and prosperity of all Zimbabweans. “The cascading of war veterans structures within the party, thus mainstreaming them in national politics, is not targeted at surplanting the Zimbabwe National Liberation War veterans’ Association.”
At a meeting of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) in Masvingo on 12-13 November 2016, the former freedom fighters from Harare, Mashonaland West and Central provinces made their intentions clear from the start of the meeting, booing the War Veterans ministry permanent secretary, Walter Tapfumaneyi during introductions. They took turns to blast Tapfumaneyi, accusing him of being corrupt and neglecting their welfare. “We are sick and tired of being told that the government has no money when you read that the same senior government officials are stealing money. No, we have been lied to many times,” a war veteran identified as Parirenyatwa said. The former combatants also threatened to withhold their support from Zanu PF in the 2018 elections, saying the party will lose if the stand-off continues.
Responding to reports that his wife, First Lady Grace Mugabe is linked to G40, Mutsvangwa said “We will not lend our precious political capital to those who will be corruptly imposed by the G40 and their cohorts. As revolutionaries, we detest electoral defeats”. The former fighters said it was unfortunate that the Zanu PF national disciplinary committee was full of povo (ordinary people, who did not fight in the liberation war) among them Grace, Zanu PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere and Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa.
But critics say even if the war veterans played an important role during earlier days, now it was time for them to take a back role to allow the current generation to move forward. Even those who are in the forces were now well past retirement age and served at the benevolence of the current president. Critics said the war vets were supposed to put pressure on the government on serious issues like corruption which had gone to very bad levels and is heavily weighing down the economy and prospects of economic turn around,issues of one man one farm,issues of good corporate governance on parastatals, issues of normalizing relations with the western world as we live in a global village, issues of the government luring foreign direct investments etc.
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