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New league warns against reversing gains of struggle

by Staff reporter
10 Sep 2022 at 01:21hrs | Views
WAR veterans yesterday warned the country's detractors and their willing tools in the form of puppet opposition parties that Zimbabwe's liberators will not sit and watch mischievous elements trying to reverse the gains of the liberation struggle.

Speaking at the inaugural War Veterans League elective conference in Harare, Zanu-PF War Veterans Secretary Douglas Mahiya said days of detractors and their lackeys were long gone.

"We have been observing the diabolic movements of the enemy we once defeated as he has been using proxies to try and destabilise the country economically in order to give her mouthpieces an edge over the revolutionary party, Zanu-PF.

"These purveyors of chaos can only but watch in awe as they are now sure that their days are numbered, for we shall politically decimate them. We will not sit and watch the country's detractors willy-nilly mislead the people in their futile bid to enact regime change," said Mahiya.

Neo-colonialists, he said, will never rule Zimbabwe through their proxies.

"We shall also ensure that posterity will be ideologically oriented to defeat any such machinations by the country's detractors. We have always been our own liberators, so shall we be," said Mahiya.

He said war veterans shall always be the first line of defence of the revolution and the country.

"We are always at your disposal to serve the party and country," Mahiya said.

The elective conference, that ends today, is being held under the theme, "Force of the Past, Power of the Present, and Inspiration of the Future".

And indeed it was an emotional and historical moment at the Harare International Conference Centre, with war veterans going down memory lane as they chanted revolutionary songs.

The children of the war veterans also celebrated the historical moment with their parents.

"Count on our unquestionable commitment to the revolution which you have always ably led. We thank you Your Excellency for enabling us to realise this critical goal in our revolutionary trajectory of being an integral part of the party of yesterday, today, and indeed tomorrow, our beloved Zanu-PF.

"The war veterans continued collaboration with our erstwhile partners during the struggle, vana mujibha and chimbwido, will yield a formidable combination that will dismantle whatever the enemy has been building. Lest the enemy forgets the formidable will-power exhibited by us together with mujibhas and chimbwidos during the liberation epoch which brought to its knees a heavily weaponised demonic Rhodesian force, it has now been rekindled with the formation of this league," Mahiya said.

Apart from ex-combatants, the War Veterans League also consists of war collaborators, ex-detainees and restrictees, all cogs in the fight for independence, achieved after a protracted struggle in 1980.

Mahiya also confirmed that they will mobilise the much needed critical 5 million votes plus to enable the revolutionary party to rule in perpetuity.

Zanu-PF national chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri urged citizens to adopt and uphold the resilience shown by freedom fighters.

She said the country needs to draw inspiration from the sacrifice and dedication shown by the war veterans.

A delegate from Frelimo, Mozambique, representing war veterans in that country, David Chabooka, said: "Our attendance at this important conference represents firm conviction of our brotherhood, friendship and solidarity which has existed since the days of our common struggles of our two countries against colonial rule.

"As an association from a sister revolutionary party, we are fully supportive of your party's Government developmental programmes as we continue to entrench and safeguard our gains of the common liberation struggle".

The Palestinian delegation led by Uri Davis, deputy commissioner-general for political affairs of the Palestine National Liberation Movement, said they are attending the conference to strengthen the bond between Zimbabwe and Palestine.

"We are here as the Palestinian delegation to attend the war veterans conference of our comrades in Zanu-PF and we are here to say that our roots are strengthening. We should tell a common story to our new generations.

"We also have a great message of solidarity for the people, leadership, and the Government of Zimbabwe and also to our comrades in Zanu-PF. We are here to call for the lifting of unfair sanctions against the peaceful people of Zimbabwe and we consider it as a kind of punishment that should not be imposed on Zimbabwe," he said.

Maquento Sebastiao Lopes, member of the Central Committee and director for International Relations of the MPLA of Angola, said the war veterans of Zimbabwe sacrificed a lot for independence.

"After attaining Independence for Angola in 1975, even with many adversities, we are guided by the spirit of solidarity and friendship with Zimbabwe which also managed to get its independence on 18 April 1980.

"Your Excellency, Angola held its 5th general elections just 15 days ago and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Zanu-PF and the Zimbabwean people for sending their leaders on an observation mission that gave greater credibility to the process. We are convinced that Angola and Zimbabwe will continue to walk together towards development of its peoples under a common vision," said Lopes.

The president of the African National Congress Veterans' League, Snuki Zikalala, said as South African war veterans, it is an honour to be part of the inaugural conference of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans League conference.

"We are all aware that war veterans have the wisdom, knowledge, and history of their country. They have the scars and wounds from the brutal rule of British colonialism and the brutal system of apartheid. War veterans have a big task of imparting knowledge and wisdom. It was not easy under the British colonial system and under apartheid," he said.

Zikalala said it is of great importance that war veterans are not on the periphery and must be part and parcel of the structures of the party.

Source - The Herald
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