Opinion / Columnist
Detractors attempt to set agenda for War Vets Indaba
06 Apr 2016 at 08:54hrs | Views
President Mugabe, who is the patron of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA), is set to meet ex freedom fighters in the capital today. Amid this expectation, there have been some attempts to set the agenda for today's indaba.
The screamers that bordered on agenda setting were awash in the media. 'War vets dare Mugabe,' 'Mugabe has alienated, abused, dumped war vets,' 'Crisis as war vets defy Mugabe,' 'Mugabe threatens war vets, Mugabe meets his match,' 'Mugabe to meet 10 000 disgruntled war vets' and 'Time for war vets to stop Mugabe autocracy' among others, were the topical headlines in the media.
This attempt to set the agenda for the meeting is just a wild goose chase. The agenda is already there. War veterans have already pledged their loyalty to President Mugabe and they have vowed that nothing will separate them with their patron for their bond is cemented by liberation ethos.
Dr Joice Mujuru's Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) has also attempted to incite war veterans to be antagonistic when they meet President Mugabe. In a Newsday story titled "Take Mugabe head-on: Mujuru," ZimPF coaxed war veterans to remind President Mugabe that he owed his political survival to them. Ever since Zanu PF was formed in 1963, members' survival depended on each other. War veterans and President Mugabe share a symbiotic relationship.
Although there has been a tiff between Zanu PF and a certain section of the war veterans, the later can never reach to an extent of uttering before their patron, the gibberish that Rugare Gumbo wants them to throw up. It will be so sad for war veterans to heed Gumbo, a discredited politician who will be a political has been very soon. To show that Gumbo is a man of no standing anymore, the courier of his claptrap attributed it to Dr Mujuru. Reading the misleading heading (Take Mugabe head-on: Mujuru), one would think it is Mujuru who is inciting war veterans to be confrontational.
It is strange that after ZimPF appointed Methuseli as the national spokesperson, Gumbo continues posing as the supreme spokesperson. He is usurping the powers Moyo and it is apparent that he is not contented with his assigned designation of party elder. ZimPF risks losing the residual iota of credibility if it continues leaving Gumbo vomiting such kind of twaddle on its behalf. Even the youths of his party are currently mounting pressure on Mujuru for her to drop Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa from the party owing to their soiled political backgrounds. They argue that these brands have passed their political sale by date a long time ago. This is the reason why Mutasa is mulling a return to the ruling party. Mutasa is fast approaching the bridge and very soon the nation will see him cross it.
ZimPF thinks it can take advantage of the tiff between some war veterans and Zanu PF to lure them into joining their grave train. The war veterans are a trained lot who are deeply rooted in the ideology of the revolutionary party. The ZimPF is wasting time for they have a deep seated ideological difference with the freedom fighters. These gallant fighters will never join sellouts. Some of them left lucrative projects, high paying jobs and luxury lives to fight the system that Gumbo now wants them to join today.
The war veterans cannot be such imprudent to squander a glorious opportunity by engrossing in confrontational engagement with their patron. We do not doubt the wisdom of this constituency. It is a time that they must take advantage to channel their grievances to the supreme leader. In as far as their grievances are concerned, the bucks stops with their patron. He is the Alpha and Omega. It will be very unfortunate and extremely unfair to the two thirds of the war veterans who will not be able to attend, if their representatives misspent the golden opportunity by prioritizing issues that will not bring grist to their mill.
Of course there are some war veterans who will need to have their perspectives re-aligned. For instance, it is an erroneous philosophy that the war veterans association and Zanu PF should be viewed on an equal footing. Cde Douglas Mahiya was off side here and it will be unfortunate if some of the war veterans meet the President with this perverted way of thinking. As the President constantly says, politics always leads the gun and this has been the norm in the liberation struggle. The politicians directed the war and this is a standard practice the world over.
Thus, the war veterans must subordinate themselves to the party. They must be willing to accept lawful guidance from the politicians. The politicians must also respect the war veterans. The war vets must accept the plain reality that they are an affiliate of Zanu PF. This reality invalidates calls by certain people for the indaba to take in the likes of Mujuru, Jabulani Sibanda, Dumiso Dabengwa and many others who have diverted in a major way from the revolutionary principles. These disloyal war veterans are free to form their own associations and align themselves to any political party of their choice. As for today's indaba, President Mugabe is meeting loyal war veterans who still uphold the founding principles of the revolutionary party.
The screamers that bordered on agenda setting were awash in the media. 'War vets dare Mugabe,' 'Mugabe has alienated, abused, dumped war vets,' 'Crisis as war vets defy Mugabe,' 'Mugabe threatens war vets, Mugabe meets his match,' 'Mugabe to meet 10 000 disgruntled war vets' and 'Time for war vets to stop Mugabe autocracy' among others, were the topical headlines in the media.
This attempt to set the agenda for the meeting is just a wild goose chase. The agenda is already there. War veterans have already pledged their loyalty to President Mugabe and they have vowed that nothing will separate them with their patron for their bond is cemented by liberation ethos.
Dr Joice Mujuru's Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) has also attempted to incite war veterans to be antagonistic when they meet President Mugabe. In a Newsday story titled "Take Mugabe head-on: Mujuru," ZimPF coaxed war veterans to remind President Mugabe that he owed his political survival to them. Ever since Zanu PF was formed in 1963, members' survival depended on each other. War veterans and President Mugabe share a symbiotic relationship.
Although there has been a tiff between Zanu PF and a certain section of the war veterans, the later can never reach to an extent of uttering before their patron, the gibberish that Rugare Gumbo wants them to throw up. It will be so sad for war veterans to heed Gumbo, a discredited politician who will be a political has been very soon. To show that Gumbo is a man of no standing anymore, the courier of his claptrap attributed it to Dr Mujuru. Reading the misleading heading (Take Mugabe head-on: Mujuru), one would think it is Mujuru who is inciting war veterans to be confrontational.
It is strange that after ZimPF appointed Methuseli as the national spokesperson, Gumbo continues posing as the supreme spokesperson. He is usurping the powers Moyo and it is apparent that he is not contented with his assigned designation of party elder. ZimPF risks losing the residual iota of credibility if it continues leaving Gumbo vomiting such kind of twaddle on its behalf. Even the youths of his party are currently mounting pressure on Mujuru for her to drop Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa from the party owing to their soiled political backgrounds. They argue that these brands have passed their political sale by date a long time ago. This is the reason why Mutasa is mulling a return to the ruling party. Mutasa is fast approaching the bridge and very soon the nation will see him cross it.
ZimPF thinks it can take advantage of the tiff between some war veterans and Zanu PF to lure them into joining their grave train. The war veterans are a trained lot who are deeply rooted in the ideology of the revolutionary party. The ZimPF is wasting time for they have a deep seated ideological difference with the freedom fighters. These gallant fighters will never join sellouts. Some of them left lucrative projects, high paying jobs and luxury lives to fight the system that Gumbo now wants them to join today.
The war veterans cannot be such imprudent to squander a glorious opportunity by engrossing in confrontational engagement with their patron. We do not doubt the wisdom of this constituency. It is a time that they must take advantage to channel their grievances to the supreme leader. In as far as their grievances are concerned, the bucks stops with their patron. He is the Alpha and Omega. It will be very unfortunate and extremely unfair to the two thirds of the war veterans who will not be able to attend, if their representatives misspent the golden opportunity by prioritizing issues that will not bring grist to their mill.
Of course there are some war veterans who will need to have their perspectives re-aligned. For instance, it is an erroneous philosophy that the war veterans association and Zanu PF should be viewed on an equal footing. Cde Douglas Mahiya was off side here and it will be unfortunate if some of the war veterans meet the President with this perverted way of thinking. As the President constantly says, politics always leads the gun and this has been the norm in the liberation struggle. The politicians directed the war and this is a standard practice the world over.
Thus, the war veterans must subordinate themselves to the party. They must be willing to accept lawful guidance from the politicians. The politicians must also respect the war veterans. The war vets must accept the plain reality that they are an affiliate of Zanu PF. This reality invalidates calls by certain people for the indaba to take in the likes of Mujuru, Jabulani Sibanda, Dumiso Dabengwa and many others who have diverted in a major way from the revolutionary principles. These disloyal war veterans are free to form their own associations and align themselves to any political party of their choice. As for today's indaba, President Mugabe is meeting loyal war veterans who still uphold the founding principles of the revolutionary party.
Source - John Sigauke
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