War vets rally behind Mugabe, attacks G40

War veterans say they rally behind President Mugabe's leadership and the liberation legacy that brought the country's independence, saying their enemy was the G40 faction in Zanu-PF that wanted to hijack the revolutionary party.

Addressing war veterans at a meeting held in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association chairman Mr Chris Mutsvangwa, said the G40 component in Zanu-PF represented counter revolutionaries and counter visionaries in the party.

He took aim at Zanu-PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and secretary for science and technology Professor Jonathan Moyo as the kingpins of factionalism who wanted to hijack the revolutionary party.

Said Mr Mutsvangwa: "We have travelled a long journey with President Mugabe. He is now 93 (and) getting to 94. He was our Commander-in-Chief during the war. We take pride from the history of the liberation struggle and not that of nationalists like (Kwame) Nkurumah. That is another generation. Maybe he (President Mugabe) may have that reference because he had interface with it because he came from that history as well. As war veterans, we take pride from the history of Julius Nyerere and Samora Machel. The history of defeating the whiteman. That is our history.

"Because of that, we continue to rally behind that structure that reflects the ideals of the liberation struggle. That history allows us to teach new generations to know that the independence of Zimbabwe is worth to defend with your blood. Some want to say what they want we will not tolerate particularly when you have a history of treachery like one professor.''

On Kasukuwere Mr Mutsvangwa said: "G40 represent the worst of counter revolution and reaction. In war we are told know your enemy. Now we know the whole country. Move the whole country telling them who our enemy is.

"We can't have a party run on non-democratic lines where the party is an extension of an individual called Kasukuwere doing whatever he pleases.

Typhoid, Tyson Kasukuwere who caused the death of many people due to typhoid and now wants to appoint people (in various party positions). Purify water from Mukuvisi River first so that people have access to clean water."

Mr Mutsvangwa also did not have kind words for Prof Moyo whom he described as a small mind and sellout who wanted to cause the death of General Constantine Chiwenga during the liberation war.

He said Prof Moyo made two attempts to escape from Mgagao training camp in Tanzania adding that his dirty history was a matter of public record as captured by Wilfred Mhanda in his book Dzino: Memories of a Freedom Fighter.

"That is the man (Prof Moyo) who was brought in the party by (General) Solomon Mujuru. He was recovered and brought back in the party. Now he stays at State House our State machinery are guarding at the gate to protect the revolution. That man has parachuted to State House. He is now causing havoc in fact to try and fire the cause of counter revolution from the top. In war we know how we deal with sellouts.

"Now you can understand that people are imposed on us, with such people – a man whose tentacles are found everywhere as if he is the Prime Minister of this Government, yet he has not been appointed formally. A man who steals Zimdef money! Then he goes about killing elephants through cyanide poisoning so that he sells ivory to raise money to build a stadium in his home area. He lacks vision."

Mr Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe would not go anywhere with people like Kasukuwere and Prof Moyo's leadership.

The war veterans also discussed other issues relating to land and economic development.

He said the economy was a stinking criticism of the G40 component in Government.

Mr Mutsvangwa said the organisational capacity of war veterans was second to none and had seen the construction of several schools in the 1980s after President Mugabe introduced education for all.