War vets declare war on Jonathan Moyo and Kasukuwere

In an unexpected turn of events within President Robert Mugabe's warring Zanu-PF, disgruntled war veterans buried the hatchet with First Lady Grace Mugabe and Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko yesterday — but escalated their beef with ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere.

Zanu-PF insiders who spoke to the Daily News last night said the development marked yet another "decisive move" by Team Lacoste — the ruling party faction that is rallying behind Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa's mooted presidential aspirations — to "finish off" their nemesis, the Generation 40 (G40) group, of which Moyo and Kasukuwere are two of its alleged top leaders.The move also came after the disaffected ex-combatants held a marathon meeting in Harare on Tuesday with Mugabe's emissaries, War Veterans' minister Tshinga Dube and the ministry's permanent secretary Walter Tapfumaneyi, in a bid to heal the rift between the former freedom fighters and the nonagenarian which widened mid this year.

In the surprising turn of events, war veterans' chairperson and former Cabinet minister Christopher Mutsvangwa said yesterday that ex-combatants had no problems with Grace and Mphoko, in a statement that Zanu-PF insiders interpreted as confirming that the tables were turning decisively against the G40, which is rabidly opposed to Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe.

This was despite the fact that war veterans had serious run-ins with both Grace and Mphoko in Zanu-PF, as the ruling party's brutal tribal, factional and succession wars had burned hotter over the past two years, leading to the expulsion of the leaders of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) from the former liberation movement in July. "Yes, we have got issues with Kasukuwere and . . . Moyo. We view them as the main culprits in the G40-attempted power grab. We don't have issues with the vice president (Mphoko), and particularly the First Lady. We don't have issues with her. She is the wife of our president," Mutsvangwa told journalists at a press briefing in the capital.

"She is the First Lady. She has got a position in society and that position we respect. But with the other two (Kasukuwere and Moyo), it's different, particularly when the element of corruption and bad management of the economy comes in.

"I am telling you as someone who was in Cabinet. I know the capacity of those two heads. In fact, I know the incapacity of those two heads," Mutsvangwa added sarcastically.

Zanu-PF insiders say many war veterans belong to Team Lacoste, with the ex-combatants publicly asserting earlier this year that Mnangagwa should succeed Mugabe, and warning that if the Midlands godfather is overlooked in the divisive succession process, blood could be shed in the country. Mutsvangwa also implored Zanu-PF to dump Moyo and Kasukuwere, to avoid defeat in the eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections.

"We went to war for the prosperity of the people. We are always conscious about what people want in Zimbabwe. We have war veterans who come from every village and town of the country and popular sentiment matters to us because that is what protected us during the war," he said.

"If the party can rediscover its communion with popular sentiment in the country, it will make life easier for war veterans because we feel the party should always be on the side of the people.

"But when the people begin to vote against the candidates of the party like what happened in Norton, we view the verdict of the people being more important than the officials of the party. The minister (Dube) has been assigned to re-engage with us and we want to give that process due space," Mutsvangwa added.

Zanu-PF has been dangling gifts to the war vets, including cash, land and vehicles, in a bid to strengthen the ruling party ahead of the 2018 polls - after initial thuggish methods failed to coerce the disgruntled ex-combatants into line. In serving their divorce papers on Mugabe five months ago, the liberation struggle fighters had also said pointedly that Mugabe's continued stay in power was now a stumbling block to the country's development, adding coldly that the nonagenarian would be "a hard-sell" if he contested the watershed 2018 polls. Over the years, war veterans have served as Mugabe's and Zanu-PF's political power dynamos, playing particularly significant roles to keep the nonagenarian on the throne in the hotly disputed 2000 and 2008 national elections which were both marred by serious violence and the murder of hundreds of opposition supporters.

Political analysts told the Daily News that yesterday's events signalled both the thawing of relations between Mugabe and the disaffected war veterans, as well as a possible beginning of the end for the G40.

"The spirited campaign by the war veterans since serving divorce papers on Mugabe might be yielding some results. While Mugabe first responded with his usual brutality and arbitrary imprisonments, he has seen that they are not a pushover. The war veterans are being crafty and are using a carrot and stick approach to ensure that Mugabe ditches the G40, knowing fully well that G40 has framed itself as a faction of the president.

"So, excluding Grace might be a divide and rule tactic and a mechanism to go after the real thinkers and brains behind G40. It might also be a sign that Grace and her husband are reaching out to war veterans having seen how indispensable they are," civic leader and political analyst Gladys Hlatywayo said.

Human Rights lawyer Dewa Mavhinga said the ex-combatants had "found their voices" and it would be foolhardy to dismiss them as being spent forces.

"If war veterans or the Mnangagwa faction manage to drive a wedge between Grace, Moyo and Kasukuwere that would effectively cripple the G40 faction. Driving a wedge between Grace Mugabe and Moyo and Kasukuwere is a smart political move that could be a game changer because without Grace's influence the G40 faction is nothing," Mavhinga said.

Former Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe executive director McDonald Lewanika said the war veterans were hedging their bets — continuing their support of Mnangagwa and reassuring the first family that they were not their enemies, while targeting those they perceived as problems for them.

"In terms of real politics, it's a smart play because a fight against the Mugabes is one they have seen they cannot win . . . whether they actually succeed will depend on the extent of the truce that Mnangagwa has secured with Grace, and any overtures of collaboration and accommodation in the future without disturbing the current order.

"The Zanu-PF conference is just a month away and it is time for high political drama. And just as Moyo recently set the tone for his group, Mutsvangwa has done the same for the faction he aligns with," Lewanika said.