Mugabe not on war vets agenda

THE Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) has accused the G40 faction in Zanu-PF of trying to hijack their meeting at the City Sports Centre in Harare today by painting it as a palace coup against President Robert Mugabe's government.

An email purportedly sent by ZNLWVA spokesman Douglas Mahiya claims the indaba will set in motion a plan to unseat Mugabe and elevate Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the positions of party leader and State President.

"Victory is certain, comrades, our time is nigh. We encourage all gallant daughters and sons of a generation of strategists and visionaries, who brought Zimbabwe through blood, to come one and all … to discuss and issue a Harare Declaration, in the tradition of the Mgagao document, ousting Robert Mugabe from power for his crimes - ie, leading G40 positioning his wife to succeed him and clinging to power while he is just too old," reads part of the email sent to media organisations.

The invitation also called on war veterans and other forces to join hands in a coalition to "declare war" on First Lady Grace Mugabe.

"To declare war on Grace and her G40, they will never rule this country while the sons of the soil (war veterans) are still alive," reads part of the email.

However, ZNLWVA secretary-general Victor Matemadanda dismissed the email as a ploy to cause commotion ahead of the all-important meeting. He said the indaba had nothing to do with Mugabe, his wife Grace or VP Mnangagwa, who the war veterans are reportedly aligned to in the Zanu-PF factional fights.

"This is hogwash, a creation by G40 and their spooks to cause confusion and force government to stop our meeting. The agenda of the meeting is not yet out, but we are not going to talk about President Mugabe and his wife, let alone Zanu-PF.

"We are going to talk about ourselves and how we can contribute to national development. We think enough has been said about Grace and her husband, there is no value addition in talking about them. We are not fighting for ED (Mnangagwa), so he won't be a subject either. We will talk about Zimbabwe, the masses and ourselves," Matemadanda said.

He refused to disclose much about the meeting, saying those interested would have to attend because it would be open to the public.

Mahiya also disowned the email saying it was the work of "criminals" in the G40 camp who wanted to disrupt their "well-
intentioned" meeting.

"This is criminal, that is not my email account, but some creation of some criminal elements," he said.