Lloyd Gumbo Senior Reporter
War veterans are solidly behind every party activity meant to prop up President Mugabe’s support ahead of the 2018 elections, and will not sabotage preparations for the proposed One Million-Man March in expression of confidence on the party’s President and First Secretary.
The war veterans said those planning the march had failed to mobilise people and were thus looking for a scapegoat to cover their failure.
The Zanu-PF Youth League deputy spokesperson for Manicaland province Cde Passionate Dandajena, at the weekend, told the private media that some war veterans and cabinet ministers from the province were sabotaging the preparations for the proposed march.
She claimed that war veterans had sabotaged their efforts by not contributing funds towards transport money for the 100 000 party cadres from the province.
They had budgeted about $50 000 for the event.
Zimbabwe National War Veterans Association secretary-general, Cde Victor Matemadanda, said war veterans were fully behind President Mugabe and as such, would support all party activities meant to support him. “He is our patron and he is a war veteran, so he is one of us,” said Cde Matemadanda.
“So, anything good that is done on behalf of the President, is also done on our behalf because the President is one of us.
“ I was with the Manicaland war veterans chairman (Cde Gift Kagweda) yesterday (Sunday).
“We were in Mashonaland Central together. There is nothing like war veterans sabotaging.
“What we know is that those people have failed to mobilise. The problem is that they have not put this thing open. It is done clandestinely such that people don’t know how they can support it.
“They have even gone further to try and attack some ministers who unfortunately are being attacked when they were not asked to assist in any way.
“This is why some people think that this is a factional thing because if it is supposed to be a State occasion, it must be told to people who should help in time through proper communication channels, (and) not to tell a person what they must do at a rally or by trying to character assassinate.”
Cde Matemadanda said the manner in which the march was being planned did not instil confidence in party cadres as the preparations were being done clandestinely.
He said the war veterans were already campaigning for the President ahead of the 2018 elections, as such, would welcome the march.
“The bottom line is that they are having problems in mobilising, so if they have failed, they should not try to associate their failure with any association or anyone.
“We are not going to hinder anything that is done for the President. This is our position. We have said we do support the President. We are one with the President. We are campaigning right now for the President ahead of the 2018 elections.
“So, if the march is to prop support for the President now and 2018, why should we be a kingdom that fights itself? We don’t do that.
“They must try to remobilise and not to blame other people.”
Cde Matemadanda said they were welcome to work with the youths to prepare for the march once terms of reference were clearly spelt out by those planning the march.
“But I don’t think they will be comfortable to tell us because they said we are sick, a spent force and that they want to fight us.
“But they are our children. We don’t hold grudges against them. We know they need to be taught.
“Any legacy in a revolution is not captured, but is transferred.
“And they will only get the transfer from us. They cannot take it from anywhere or anyone else. What they need to know is that we are now old people.
“We know the energy that they have, and we know that there are people who can abuse and mislead them. But we won’t say someone has done this or that, so let’s throw them away. No! We are very patient.
“We will try to teach, correct and re-orient them in preparation for legacy takeover because obviously one day they are going to take over and we want them to take over with a very clear understanding of what is expected of them,” said Cde Matemadanda.
Meanwhile, zanu-pf deputy Youth League secretary Cde Kudzai Chipanga said they had not faced any sabotage as they mobilised support for the march.
“We have not faced any sabotage in our mobilisation. Our programme has been going on well.
“We are actually going to give the war veterans a slot so that they give a solidarity message on the day, just like the women and other organs of the party.
“If our members are facing any challenges in the provinces, they must alert us at the national level so that we will see how to handle the matter,” he said.
He said the Youth League was almost done with mass mobilisation as they have been to seven of the 10 provinces.
Cde Chipanga said they would now go into resource mobilisation.
However, Zanu-PF secretary for Finance in the Women’s League, Cde Sarah Mahoka, was also quoted in the private media at the weekend claiming that indeed war veterans were sabotaging the mobilisation.