The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) has expressed relief at Christopher Mutsvangwa’s dismissal describing him as a non-performer, a divisive leader, and someone who consistently snubbed their requests for meetings regarding their welfare.
Mutsvangwa was fired as the Minister of Veterans of the
Liberation Struggle Affairs on Saturday by President Emmerson Mnangagwa,
without any reasons given for his dismissal.
However, ZNLWVA chairperson, Andrease Ethan Mathibela, said
Mutsvangwa’s performance was abysmal, both as the association chairperson and
later as the minister. He referred to him as a “pothole” that needed removal.
Mathibela stated that instead of addressing war veterans’
welfare issues, Mutsvangwa was more interested in opposition politics and its
leader, Nelson Chamisa.
“We had high expectations from that appointment,” Mathibela
said at the Bulawayo Media Centre on Monday.
“Since there were so many issues we wanted the government
to address, we assumed being the minister would have helped move things
forward. We were extremely disappointed that instead of engaging with us, the
minister disengaged and even divided us through the association chair.”
Mathibela revealed that when the Cabinet was reappointed,
he wrote a congratulatory letter to Mutsvangwa and other ministers, hoping to
collaborate. However, the former war veterans minister ignored them.
“We wanted to collaborate and find ways of working
together,” Mathibela said. “We don’t believe we’re special people, but history
shows we contributed positively to change for previously marginalized Africans.
We are a constituency willing to work with anyone to help this country
prosper.”
However, after Mutsvangwa’s appointment, he did not respond
to ZNLWVA’s requests to set a meeting and discuss their roadmap.
“Last year, during our congress, we planned out what we
wanted to achieve in 2024,” Mathibela said. “We wanted to engage him and other
ministries to address some of the veterans’ challenges. I called him
personally, but he ignored my calls. I even texted him, but there was no
response.”
As a minister, Mutsvangwa’s role was to unite war veterans,
according to Mathibela. However, instead of fulfilling this “noble gesture,” he
was allegedly “more focused on Chamisa.”
“Mutsvangwa was supposed to address our welfare,” Mathibela
said. “Without that kind of leadership to guide us, we get worried. It’s been
43 years, but what we have inherited is just a sense of perceived freedom. True
freedom isn’t just walking around without mugging; it’s having land ownership,
a house, and disposable income.”
He acknowledged that war veterans volunteered for the armed
struggle but lamented how their “colleagues were now greedy” and plundered
Zimbabwe, a country with resources that could have made it the envy of others.
“We cautiously celebrate Mutsvangwa’s dismissal,” Mathibela
said. “He couldn’t deliver. We don’t care about the reasons, but the president
has removed a pothole. We still think we can drive, but there are many potholes
left.”
“Honestly, the president is also surrounded by people who
don’t mean well for our country,” he continued, providing examples of
individuals he believes benefit disproportionately from the country’s resources
based on their surname and region.
He questioned why war veterans had fought if young people
were now fleeing the country as economic refugees, even to the former
coloniser.
“It’s a sad state of affairs,” said the chairperson
passionately. “There are selfish, greedy, and tribalistic individuals. We are
speaking out with pain because this is the reality on the ground.”
Mathibela also revealed that when Mutsvangwa was initially
appointed ZNLWVA chairperson, he overstayed his term unconstitutionally by ten
years.
“He wasn’t supposed to run for ten years, but he did. He
didn’t try to explain his plans to us or even meet with us after we appointed
him. He pursued partisan politics, and the last we heard was when he became a
special advisor to the president,” Mathibela said.
“The most painful thing is that it went on for ten years
beyond his mandate. We were surprised that the appointer rewarded a
non-performer in the ministry of war veterans, but we gave him the benefit of
the doubt. We are not surprised about his dismissal because here we are, poor
and worse off than before independence.”
Mathibela concluded by stating that his reaction reflects
the sentiments of many war veterans. He mentioned receiving numerous calls,
even from some who previously supported Mutsvangwa, celebrating his dismissal.
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