War vets demand civil service overhaul

WAR veterans yesterday demanded an overhaul of the civil service, claiming there was adequate proof that some government workers were aiding the opposition by supporting protests.

Addressing journalists in the capital, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) spokesperson Douglas Mahiya, reacting to a successful but often violent three-day stayaway called by labour bodies, said the overhauling of the civil servants should include removal of those that seem to behave in a manner that leaves government vulnerable to embarrassment by its enemies.

"The opposition political actions have been reflected in some of our civil service," Mahiya said.

"As war veterans, we recommend complete overhaul of our civil service, especially removing those that seem to act in a manner that leaves government vulnerable to unnecessary embarrassment by enemies of the State."

Zimbabwe woke up on Monday to violent protests over President Emmerson Mnangagwa's decision to hike fuel prices by 150% on Saturday night.

At least nine people reportedly died and hundreds injured as security forces brutally tried to suppress the protests.

Hundreds have been arrested, including soldiers, police officers and Zanu-PF supporters among the hundreds of opposition members.

Mahiya insisted on apportioning the blame to the MDC, and warned that war veterans would take the law into their hands if police "fail to do justice" to the MDC supporters some of whom have been arrested over the violence.

"The opposition has committed an unforgivable sin of disregarding our national Constitution by deliberately advocating for unconstitutionalism and society disobedience," Mahiya said.

"The intended demonstrations were misused as an attempt by the opposition to seize political power during the absence of the Head of State and Government Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The level of cohesion and forcing of the generality of our citizenry to participate in the demonstration and the ultimate shutting down of all businesses by the marauding hooligans calls for security measures on the ground."

He added: "The way the demonstrations were organised, the nature of the deployment and tactics all point to a well-trained army in force which openly belongs to the opposition MDC Alliance, which is trying to get power through the back door. Of particular interest is the tactic to remove action from the CBD and decentralise to war level and use innocent civilians as human shields, which is a military strategy."

ZNLWVA leader Christopher Mutsvangwa, who also addressed the Press conference, said Zimbabwe would not degenerate into violent rocked countries like Somalia, Afghanistan or Libya.

"They want to make Zimbabwe a failed State. We warn them of the consequences of trying to take power using extra-judicial means. Zimbabwe will never be allowed by the war veterans to be a failed State and have leadership change outside the ballot," he said.