War vets vow to defend nervous Mugabe

By Chengetai Zvauya

HARARE – War veterans have vowed to defend President Robert Mugabe’s besieged government as political violence spreads countrywide.

Andy Mhlanga the former leader of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association says he is mobilising the war veterans in readiness to thwart Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters who are pushing for the ouster of Mugabe.

”We know that the MDC is mobilising its structures countrywide to rise up against our leader and patron President Mugabe and we are ready to meet them and stop their agenda. MDC members are excited about the political upheavals happening in Egypt and Tunisia and are hoping that it can happen here,” Mhlanga said in an interview.

”We are warning the MDC that we are going to deal with them if they want to start an uprising in our country. We fought for our country and we are ready to die for it,” Mhlanga said.

”We are aware of the intentions of MDC youths and we are watching them closely, but we are warning them not to start violence to disrupt our normal activity because we are going to deal with them once for all. They are youngsters and they must not be excited for nothing because we will defend our leader Mugabe,” said Mhlanga.

Events in Tunisia and currently Egypt have unsettled some government leaders on the African continent who the electorate blame for overstaying. Mugabe has been in power since 1980 and many people feel that he has destroyed the economy and must go because he has overstayed in office.

His Zanu PF party is agitating for an election this year, hoping to regain total control of Parliament after the disputed 2008 elections which led to a coalition government with the opposition parties. Mhlanga said war veterans are members of a reserve force who can be called in times of emergencies to help the army.

Since the formation of the MDC a decade ago, war veterans and Zanu PF militia have been terrorising MDC supporters countrywide. In the rural areas, they have subjected MDC supporters and people suspected to be MDC sympathisers to torture and harassment.

The war veterans have unleashed an orgy of murder and mayhem and war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda is causing bedlam in Masvingo province to coerce the electorate to abandon the MDC and join Zanu PF as the country’s prepares for a general election and referendum.

There has been an increase in the number of political clashes between Zanu PF and MDC youths in the high density areas of Mbare, Budiriro and Kuwadzana where scores of MDC youths were arrested and charged of inciting and public disorder.

The incidents of political violence have prompted war veterans to threaten the MDC youths who are holding their campaigns countrywide. Daily News