A STORM is brewing in Zanu PF over the ruling party’s
newly-launched war veterans’ wing — pitting many former freedom fighters
against their national spokesperson Douglas Mahiya, the Daily News reports.
This comes as there are widening fissures in the former
liberation movement, which was split in the middle during the last years in
office of the country’s late ex-president Robert Mugabe — who was unexpectedly
toppled from power by a stunning and popular military coup in November 2017.
The launch of the
war veterans’ league follows the resolutions that were made at Zanu PF’s
December 2019 annual conference, which moved to adopt the ex-combatants’ wing
as an integral organ of the party.
Enquiries by the
Daily News yesterday showed that the war veterans’ wing is widely seen as
crucial in the ruling party’s problematic succession matrix.
Now, a tag team made
up of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) and
war collaborators is accusing the under-fire Mahiya of “unilaterally” launching
the wing without further consultations with key stakeholders.
This comes after Mahiya launched the Mashonaland Central
war veterans’ wing last month, where he presided over appointments into the
body — allegedly without consulting his colleagues.
“We are extremely surprised to note that Mahiya decided to
rush to launch the league even before the party’s constitution has been amended
to accommodate that … and without consulting veterans of the liberation
struggle.
“The league formation was just rushed through the
politburo, central committee and (2019 Zanu PF) conference (in Goromonzi)
without consulting stakeholders.
“Provinces were expecting Mahiya to come to them to explain
and update them on the modalities of conference resolutions on the league,”
agitated war veterans’ chairpersons drawn from the country’s 10 provinces said
yesterday.
“Ever since the period of the conference, Mahiya has not
addressed veterans of the liberation struggle in any of the 10 provinces, yet
he rushes to launch the league.
“One wonders whose interests he is serving, also given the
calibre of the people pushing him.
“The war veterans demanded the party to reverse the
appointments which were made during the (Mashonaland Central) meeting,” the
chairpersons said further.
“The party procedures are that such occasions are handled
by the commissariat department. The absence of the commissariat department on
such a crucial occasion raises a lot of questions,” they added.
ZNLWVA
secretary-general Victor Matemadanda — who doubles up as Zanu PF national
political commissar — confirmed that the party’s commissariat department was
responsible for managing such exercises.
“I don’t know who organised that meeting because the issue
of party structures is under the commissariat department and we should have
known that there is a meeting to launch the war veterans’ league.
“I don’t know what really happened. Maybe he (Mahiya) has a
special permission to do that,” the guarded Matemadanda told the Daily News
yesterday.
On his part, the vice chairperson of the Zimbabwe
Liberation War Collaborators (Ziliwaco), Josephine Gandiya, accused Mahiya of
allegedly disrespecting President Emmerson Mnangagwa by not following the
ruling party’s procedures in the establishment of the former freedom fighters
league.
“Mahiya was told by the president when we met him last year
that he must work with all associations. We are surprised to hear that he has
launched the league in Mashonaland Central without consulting anyone.
“We have nothing to do with Mahiya’s purported launch. He
is forming his own league which has nothing to do with the real war veterans.
“Mahiya is working against the president. As an
association, our duty is to second people who are going to be part of the war
veterans’ league.
“In our view, the league has not been launched. We totally
dismiss what Mahiya did,” Gandiya told the Daily News yesterday.
Contacted for his
view, Mahiya refused to comment. However, he got backing from Zanu PF secretary
for administration — Obert Mpofu — who hailed him for having launched the war
veterans’ wing in Mashonaland Central.
“I also want to acknowledge the strides taken by the
secretary of war veterans wing comrade Mahiya — in conjunction with the
Mashonaland Central politburo members, central committee members and honourable
ministers from that province — for the restructuring of the war veterans
committee at the historic Atlanta farm in Muzarabani, of which (Richard)
Chirongwe was appointed as the interim chairperson,” Mpofu said.
During Mugabe’s last few years in power, Mnangagwa was
involved in a hammer and tongs war with the Generation 40 (G40) faction which
had coalesced around the nonagenarian’s erratic wife Grace.
The vicious brawling
took a nasty turn when Mnangagwa was allegedly poisoned by his rivals during
one of Mugabe’s highly-divisive youth interface rallies in Gwanda in 2017.
Mnangagwa’s fate was
eventually sealed on November 6, 2017 when Mugabe fired his long-time
lieutenant a few days after the then VP’s allies had booed the irascible Grace
during a tense rally at White City Stadium in Bulawayo.
However, tables were
dramatically turned on Mugabe when the military rolled in their tanks on
November 15 of that year and deposed the long-ruling geriatric from power —
which saw a number of alleged G40 kingpins fleeing into self-imposed exile soon
afterwards.
But despite
Mnangagwa’s ascendancy to power, some ambitious bigwigs in the former
liberation movement continue to stand accused of plotting to unseat the new
Zanu PF leader.
This comes as
political analysts have said a proposed
new law which seeks to empower Mnangagwa to handpick his deputies could
see him deciding who takes over after him, both as Zanu PF’s and the country’s
new leader.
Parliament has just
held public hearings across the country, ahead of Constitutional Amendment
Number 2 Bill being debated in the august House — where it is expected to sail
through as Zanu PF enjoys a super majority.
At the same time,
critics say the Bill — which seeks to introduce at least 27 amendments to the
Constitution, including dropping the presidential election running mate clause
— is retrogressive.
The running mate
clause was supposed to become operational from the fast-approaching 2023
general elections, which Mnangagwa has already indicated he will participate
in.
The Bill also
intends to amend the country’s supreme law to give Mnangagwa the power to
appoint the prosecutor-general, extend the terms of retiring judges, increase
the women’s quota in Parliament by 10 years, create a youth quota in the
National Assembly, and appoint more non-constituency ministers, among other
things. Daily News
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