By Nyashadzashe Ndoro
Opposition MDC Alliance Vice President Tendai Biti has accused the generation of politicians who fought the liberation war of holding the country to ransom and said their primary focus was power retention, state capture and benefiting from corruption under President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Biti slammed the war veterans for holding the country to ransom by claiming they were the liberators of the nation and using that as a launch pad to monopolise key political positions.
The former Finance Minister was co-panellist during a Thursday SAPES Trust online Policy Dialogue whose focus was on “What will it take to reach a Settlement in Zimbabwe”.
Biti added that the war veterans generation was still fighting a war that was won in 1980.
“We still have a few and the few are largely people in the military who participated in the liberation struggle, who feel that this is, us, thing and to use local language chinhu chedu.
“That generation, the liberation generation is a challenge not just in the military but in the length and breadth of the country.
“We have a group of deranged individuals oblivious to the plight of Zimbabweans who are concerned with two things and two things alone: the power retention agenda and two, state capture or corruption under Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“This generation is a challenge not only in the military but in the length and breadth of Zimbabwe, it is a generation that is fighting a war that finished 40 years ago,” Biti said.
“It is a generation that is driven by an entitlement, is a generation that is driven by impunity, it is a generation that is driven by destructive mindset, it is a generation driven by a messiah mindset that we liberated you, we are your own Jesus, so there is no Zimbabwe without us.
“So it’s a challenge that we face, it’s a challenge that South Africa will face, it’s a challenge that Namibia will face, it’s a challenge that Mozambicans are facing, it’s a challenge that Angolans are facing.
“It’s a challenge that every country in Africa which has gone through a physical liberation struggle is facing.”
In a highly-charged panel discussion hosted by Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN) in March this year, war veterans leader Christopher Mutsvangwa and Biti were asked why the country was still talking about the liberation struggle and not moving on.
Mutsvangwa said, “no country makes any progress without its own history.”
Biti however, accused Mutsvangwa and the ruling Zanu PF leaders of using their participation in the liberation war as a “license” for dictatorship.
“No one should take anything from the liberation struggle and the liberation movement. Because some of us did not participate in it because we were not born or too young is not a crime.”
