Opinion / Columnist
War veterans call for vigilant to fight off 'political thugs' - reform Police and let them fight thugs
02 Nov 2017 at 18:55hrs | Views
"Zimbabweans need to know that genuine veterans of Chimurenga Liberation War see no party or individual worth dying or killing for. The sacrifices made by sons and daughters of our nation during the armed struggle was a high enough price for us all to gain unfettered freedom of political choice," said ZNLWVA secretary for Education Wilbert Sadomba.
"Failure to respect uphold this value of liberation is tantamount to denigrating the ethos upon which this very nation is founded. Their sacrifices cannot be in vain and therefore we strongly denounce the perpetrators and especially their organizers."
The ZNLWVA urged citizens to establish community groups that will hit back at political party thugs that unleash violence on citizens.
This is highly commendable of the war veterans; however there are three important issues they must address/understand:
1) Many of the war veterans from this group were actively involved in the reign of terror that rained on the people of Zimbabwe since independence to impose this Zanu PF dictatorship on the nation. These war veterans failed to "uphold the values of the liberation", they abrogated unto themselves the veto to decide who ruled the nation where everyone else had a vote - if any say at all.
If the people of Zimbabwe are to believe that these war veterans have seen the errors of their past then they must publicly confess all their serious human rights violations and apologize to the nation.
The people of Zimbabwe know the Zanu PF factional war is hotting up and the Mnangagwa faction is particularly keen to be seen as on the ordinary Zimbabwean side. The people will be very foolish to be sucked into the factional war only to remove one dictator for another, have the same war veterans reclaim their veto over who rules the country.
2) Zimbabweans does not need vigilant groups to guarantee their freedoms and basic human rights all we need is the implementation of all the democratic reforms designed to restore the powers and independence of the Police, ZEC and all the other institutions tasked to maintain law and order, deliver free and fair elections, etc.
So, instead of calling for "community groups that will hit back at political party thugs that unleash violence on citizens" ZNLWVA must support the call for all democratic reforms to be implemented BEFORE the next elections!
"Failure to respect uphold this value of liberation is tantamount to denigrating the ethos upon which this very nation is founded. Their sacrifices cannot be in vain and therefore we strongly denounce the perpetrators and especially their organizers."
The ZNLWVA urged citizens to establish community groups that will hit back at political party thugs that unleash violence on citizens.
This is highly commendable of the war veterans; however there are three important issues they must address/understand:
1) Many of the war veterans from this group were actively involved in the reign of terror that rained on the people of Zimbabwe since independence to impose this Zanu PF dictatorship on the nation. These war veterans failed to "uphold the values of the liberation", they abrogated unto themselves the veto to decide who ruled the nation where everyone else had a vote - if any say at all.
If the people of Zimbabwe are to believe that these war veterans have seen the errors of their past then they must publicly confess all their serious human rights violations and apologize to the nation.
The people of Zimbabwe know the Zanu PF factional war is hotting up and the Mnangagwa faction is particularly keen to be seen as on the ordinary Zimbabwean side. The people will be very foolish to be sucked into the factional war only to remove one dictator for another, have the same war veterans reclaim their veto over who rules the country.
2) Zimbabweans does not need vigilant groups to guarantee their freedoms and basic human rights all we need is the implementation of all the democratic reforms designed to restore the powers and independence of the Police, ZEC and all the other institutions tasked to maintain law and order, deliver free and fair elections, etc.
So, instead of calling for "community groups that will hit back at political party thugs that unleash violence on citizens" ZNLWVA must support the call for all democratic reforms to be implemented BEFORE the next elections!
Source - Patrick Guramatunhu
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