Desperate Mugabe summons war vets – Updates and Pictures

An increasingly desperate President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday summoned a faction of the country’s war veterans to Harare in a bid to shore up numbers in the face of mounting pressure and rejection by the former freedom fighters.

To boost the numbers the party roped in the Zanu PF youth league.

1412: Mandi Chimene is now addressing the gathering. She says she doesn’t want to hear of issues that hurt the President because she it also hurts her. “They started way back when we heard of Tsholotsho….we have nurtured it..it’s now here again, if people are smart they create something that looks like his his. The person who created Lacoste also created G40…I know of Lacoste and the leader. I’m accused of being a G40 member.”

1415: “What was known as Tsholotsho was led by Cde Mnangagwa, this Lacoste is now led by Cde Mnangagwa..as you seat there you are now two Governments because some ministers are known to be supporters of Cde Mnangagwa.”

1416: “I’m accused of drinking alcohol and smoking dagga..even if I do smoke and it gives me energy to work then I smoke. Right now they are saying I’m high,”

1419: “The people have told me that we cannot keep using parallel structures..we are tired of being threatened…we voted Mustvangwa out and he’s not our leader..if you can’t chase away each other today, let’s go for a special congress and we will help you to chase them away,”

1421: “Zanu pf now needs culling just like animals…crocodiles should go to the river, they cannot be in Zanu-PF because Zanu-PF is not a river..don’t be scared.”

1430: Joseph Chinotimba is now on the podium and he says “the stories of Nhando, Mahiya, Matemadanda are not war vets, it’s a clique. We can never hear of war vets denouncing the President…those people were defeated in primary elections within the party yet real war vets like me won constituencies…we will now go sort out the war vets.”

1440: Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi – “Today, here at the party HQ, Harare the capital, war vets have been called to come show solidarity with the President….your support for war veterans has led to this gathering, some write lies as news while others write from our midst….Cde President, acting chairman for war vets association Chimene, Nyaruwata and Chinotimba have spoke on behalf of the war vets so I humbly ask you to come and address the war vets here.”

1451: President Robert Mugabe: “Hanzi kune chikwata cheku Mgagao chakusarudzai asi kwete makasarudzwa kuno kunyika yenyu….saka tateerera zvose izvi, vatii sei muchingotungamidza ana Mutsvangwa naana Mahiya vatakadzinga kare, tikati aiwa tanga tisinga zive kuti makavadzinga..saka tati tipei magwaro anoratidza kuti vakadzingwa,”

1455: “Ini pachangu so kuteerera kwandaita ndoda kukutendai norutsigiro mufunge chitsamba chavakanyora chakaparadzirwa chava kushandiswa kunana Britain kuti regime change iya yazouya vasinga zive kuyti party ine midzi, party haife yakaridzwa nechipaper…saka vanga vakufarira kuti party yaparara. Mavaratidza kuti madhaka aya,”

1457: “Saka ma war vets ndoda kuti musangane mosarudza vatungamiriri vatsva….those who are acting let them act. Isuwo takasarudza vakuru muparty kuti chitsamba ichoci chakambobva kupi nevakazoipembedza kuti musangano uzovaranga ende kuranga kwe party kunenge kwakaoma,”

1500: “Kuhondo vamwe taiva ranga nekuvaisa mudzimba dzepasi tichavapira sadza imomo….vakazobuda huremende yemaBritish yawirirana kuti rusununguko rwuuye vanga varipasi se mbeva…vakadaro mochenjera,”

1504: “Huzhinji wedu we Zanu-PF ndiyo inotungamira ma associations ese..ma students ese vari affiliated kwatiri, ma business tinenge tiinawo saka tinenge tichiti gwara redu rimwechete….takakwachura hukama chose nema British, we are totally free ndosaka takati imi ana Blair mune nyika yenyu tongai isu tine yedu tinotonga kuno,”

1508: “Toita maziso..nzeve dzinoteerera chokwadi nekuti kune vanoshandisa mazita edu kuti vatiparadzanise…isuwo vakuru tinofanirwa kutaura patinonenerwa kuti aiwa ini handimo mune izvizvi..we don’t want to be divided, it’s our duty to denounce these things together so that the people have total confidence in us,”

1511: “The unity of the party is crucial and I’m glad that so far we have retained that unity and I hope we will maintain it until 2018. We shall keep together at the top, we shall remain united, we know that accusations will continue to be made, allegations naturally some true some false but Zanu-PF know how to settle its contradictions..takafunda tirikuhondo tichiongorora maitirwo aitiwa kuChina ichatungamirirwa nava Mao,”

1518: “That is how ma contradictions were settled in China and also in our camps kunze kwenyika..torega kurovana kwete..violence hatidi, tuma party tumwe utwu kana toda kuita ma demonstrations atwo ne hasha….mapurisa onai kuti twakandwa mumajeri twomboravira sadza remujeri.

“Ko avo vanoshumira muma church twe mari utwu nekuti mashoko avo anotapira….hanzi vanopa mazano emberi kunyengwe usinga shande kuti uwane mari, vanopa ruponeso..vepamusoro nevamwe vemusangano vanoendawo ikoko. Ko nhamo nehurwere whakuvinga hausozive zvekuita..

“ko naivavo vakuda kupindira munezve matongerwo enyika tinoti aiwa ko bhaibheri renyu managa mapedza here?…zve party dai matisiira isu zvekuronga izvi, takabva nazvo kure..manje kana makupindira..vachi protestor vachiti hurumende ngaichibva, kwozo uya hurumende yakaita sei isina kurwa hondo,”

1524: I want to warn ana Mawarire ivava nevamwewo…I want to warn them strongly Zanu will not tolerate any nonsense any nonsense that is done in the name of religion so keep to your religious side, once you begin top get involved with our politics you are courting real trouble, we know how to deal with our enemies who have been trying all along to effect regime change.

We have the means to protect our hard won freedom, we have brought unity and the people are united please don’t disunite our people saka ndinoda kuvayambira and ma embassies, the embassies foreign embassies in the country that are interfering with our politics intervening although they bare doing it privately, clandestinely I want to warn them to desist from it, the rules that govern them don’t allow theme to involve in our politics, to subvert our systems of governance to do things that amount to subverting the present government and its authority please stop it..and I have the lady Stop It with me,”

1529: “We are people oriented..we mean we are governed by the wishes of the people….tatenda, tatenda zvikurukuru..journalists, tell those that you are representing that Robert Mugabe is still going strong…so this is me and my people will have me for saome trime, a long time and those from outside that don’t like me I say I don’t care, I don’t mind but please don’t interfere with us, we are a free people..ndatenda,”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

However, a senior Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) leader who declined being identified for fear of victimisation told Nehanda Radio that the purported meeting of the war vets was illegal.

“The current senior leadership of the war veterans (association) has been told it is not welcome at the meeting.

“The truth, though, is that it is an illegal meeting organised by people who have no mandate to represent the association. This is the work of people who have always been fighting us as war vets,” said the official.

He added: “It would always be suspicious that junior cadres can invite seniors to a meeting. It’s not heard of and it seems the president (Mugabe) is just being twisted around to attend meetings he has no idea about”.

He said the ZNLWVA had applied for a court interdict barring the self-professed war veterans from organising events on behalf of the association.

The elected war veterans’ leadership was in the morning of Wednesday locked in an emergency meeting at an undisclosed venue, according to Victor Matemadanda, the secretary general who said he could not comment.

The Wednesday meeting follows another by the elected ZNLWVA leadership last Thursday where provincial representatives denounced Mugabe as a dictator and announced their disengagement with them through a communique.

The communique bemoaned the current economic crisis and bad management by the Zanu PF government while war vets leaders at the meeting vowed that they would ignite debate on Mugabe’s succession despite a party ban.

Government-controlled media flighted adverts of the solidarity meeting which Mugabe, 92,  apparently hastily agreed to as his hold on power continues to be threatened by internal forces.

The group meeting Mugabe on Wednesday is fronted by George Matenda, the ZNLWVA lands secretary who is linked to the G40 faction.

Said Matenda: “It is a solidarity meeting with our patron. All comrades are invited to come and show their support to their patron.”

None of the top leadership of the war vets association, among them the chair, Christopher Mutsvangwa, secretary general Victor Matemadanda and spokesperson Douglas Mahiya features in the programme.

The current veterans’ leadership has publicly thrown its weight behind a faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa who is locked in a bitter succession turf war with G40.

In a space of two months, G40 has organised three events to show solidarity with Mugabe in what critics say is a strategy to curry favour with the aged leader who still insists on seeking re-election at the 2018 general elections when he is 94.

The G40-aligned grouping has urged war collaborators to attend today’s meeting where Mugabe is expected to address the veterans’ welfare.

The Mutsvangwa-led camp recently met Mugabe at an indaba where the president promised to look into their social plight by, among other things, availing money for their children’s school fees.

The meeting came after the war veterans attempted an unsanctioned meeting that was violently dispersed by the police who used tear smoke and water cannons on them.

Last Thursday, the war veterans accused the government of lying to them and rapped Mugabe for circumventing them and doling out large swathes of land for residential purposes to youths, who have become the president’s new support base.

The land gift was announced when thousands of youths who were addressed by party heavies aligned to G40 marched in Harare.

Mugabe is seen as blessing the current solidarity marches and meetings as part of his divide-and-rule scheme whereby he allows the factions to fight each while grovelling at him.

Both factions have repeatedly vowed their support for the president even though, secretly, they both reportedly consider him as a burden.

The balance of power in the two factions has been see-sawing, with Mugabe managing to command the feigned loyalty of both camps at a time he is largely considered a failed statesman. Nehanda Radio