War vets vow to go back to the bush to defend Mnangagwa

WAR Veterans say they were prepared to return to the bush to defend the Zanu-PF led government against the West that they accuse of siding with the country's opposition to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe.

At a press briefing following their Wednesday executive meeting in Harare Wednesday, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) spokesperson Douglas Mahiya said the country's liberators will not sit idle while the European Union tries to destabilise the Zanu-PF led government.

Mahiya said power in Zimbabwe will never be negotiated.

"In other words, we will defend the power that we got," he said.

"The world must know that we are a force that has fought imperialism and we have sometime gone through political lessons on how to defeat colonialism.

"Today we hear that the European Union is trying to cement their relations with those that want to fight against the State of Zimbabwe."

Mahiya said as war veterans, they were much aware the EU was supporting rivals of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

"We know EU is supporting the opposition; it is because they (EU) know they (MDC) are fighting against us.

"We are prepared to take it up because it is a struggle. We never wanted war and nobody wants war but when war comes, you have no option but to accept it?

"We are aware the local representatives of imperialism is the opposition parties that have refused to come on the negotiation table to contribute towards economic development and we know that they are proxies' of capitalism and imperialisms."

Mahiya also appealed to citizens to assist President Emmerson Mnangagwa whom they said was working hard to restore the country's economy whose decline they blame on former President Robert Mugabe's administration.

"What we have achieved when we stopped the G40 which was to unite Zimbabwe but things did not go according to plan when we removed Mugabe," he said.

"The white men hijacked the revolution and recruited other new members to remove the new administration led by Mnangagwa.

"But I want to reiterate that the government is trying to resuscitate the economy which was destroyed by Mugabe.

"Mnangagwa cannot do that on his own. Zimbabweans must come on board to assist the President achieve this and this will remove antagonism among the people of Zimbabwe and further reduce contradictions among the people."