Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa
Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
A MEMBER of the war veterans’ council of elders Cde George Mlala has rapped the association’s leader Cde Chris Mutsvangwa for ignoring concerns raised by war veterans in Bulawayo province. War veterans in Bulawayo petitioned Cde Mutsvangwa sometime last month, calling for the ouster of the new executive led by Cde Cephas Ncube, saying the executive was not constitutionally elected.
They said the executive, which they allege was imposed on the people, was linked to ousted Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans chairman Jabulani Sibanda. Cde Mutsvangwa, however, dismissed the war veterans’ demands last week, saying the elections chapter had been closed until the 2018 elections and the ex-combatants must unite.
The war veterans have since launched a campaign against the new executive, with a series of meetings lined up to “bring sanity” to the association. Speaking during a meeting in Nkulumane yesterday, Cde Mlala said Cde Mutsvangwa’s response would not stop them from expressing their dissatisfaction over the “imposed” executive. “Mutsvangwa is ignorant of what’s happening in Bulawayo because he wasn’t here when those people were elected unprocedurally into the executive. We’re not happy with the way the elections were held and we’re not satisfied with his response,” said Cde Mlala.
“When there’s a problem and it’s presented to the leadership, we expect the leadership to attend to the problem, not to pretend as if everything is normal. If he thinks the solution is in the 2018 elections, I’m afraid he might not be able to solve this problem.”
He said war veterans would have appreciated if Cde Mutsvangwa had sent a team to Bulawayo to assess the situation and address the concerns raised. Yesterday, Cde Mutsvangwa accused the war veterans of indiscipline and declared that the Bulawayo executive still stands.
“I’m fully informed as the national chairperson of the war veterans and I know how the new Bulawayo provincial executive was elected. I’ll stick to my position and I want to appeal to the war veterans to support the existing executive for the benefit of the association,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.
“I view such kind of behaviour as indiscipline. If they’re genuine war veterans they’ll endorse the executive because it has been endorsed by their chairman and the entire leadership. I’ll not subscribe to what they want because if we hold elections to change the executive other members will complain and we will not go forward.”
He added that all outstanding issues in the province would be resolved through the existing executive which would be changed in 2018. However, Cde Mlala said they respect Cde Mutsvangwa as the war veterans’ leader but he should not brush war veterans concerns aside by being autocratic.
He said there’s so much confusion in the province and they can’t sit and wait for the confusion to be cleared in 2018. “We’ve therefore organised a series of meetings in various parts of the province to explain to the members why there’s confusion in the association. We held the first meeting in Pumula on Sunday and we’ll continue until sanity prevails in the association.”
Cde Mlala said the Cde Ncube-led executive was comprised of people who agreed with Sibanda when he insulted the First Family and accused the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe of organising a bedroom coup against former Vice President Joice Mujuru. “They’re war veterans and that can’t be taken away from them but we can’t accept them to take leadership positions because they rallied behind Sibanda when he insulted the First Family. According to Presidential instructions and the resolutions that were agreed upon in Masvingo last year, all the people who were rallying behind Sibanda were not supposed to take part in any elections held by the association,” he said.