War veterans postpone indaba

WAR veterans have been forced to postpone their indaba today to discuss their welfare after the Zimbabwe Republic Police raised what they identified as administrative concerns.

Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) chairperson Chris Mutsvangwa told NewsDay last night that the former freedom fighters were taking everything on face value and trusted that the police "are not only acting in good faith, but professionally."

"These concerns will be attended to by our team and our hope is that in the course of the next few days these will be ironed out and war veterans will be allowed to hold their meetings as guaranteed by the Constitution of the country," Mutsvangwa said.

Asked what concerns the police had raised, the ZNLWVA leader indicated there seemed to have been a clash of meetings with the Harare province of the former fighters having apparently applied for a meeting in the same period.

Mutsvangwa added that the war veterans respected the police "because the genesis of this force is founded in the war veterans".

"There should never be misunderstandings between the police and war veterans because the force was formed by us. We believe we are talking to our peers. So there should not be any problems," he said.

The war vets chair, however, indicated the association was unhappy with the behaviour of a top Ministry of War Veterans official.

"We have disconcerting information that the official is leaning on the police in a bid to force them to act illegally. We will not allow that and the association will make sure the full weight of the law is brought to bear on him," he said.