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War veterans, A plague to the nation
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The war veterans’ single handedly destroyed our country and ruined any chances of a quick economic and political recovery in one fell swoop. They did it because they were greedy. They did it because they had power over a President who was supposed to serve the people. Instead, he served them.
The Zimbabwe War Veterans Association’s members are the only citizens of the Republic of Zimbabwe. They always get what they want from their government and their leader, Robert Mugabe. He serves no one but them. They are therefore a law unto themselves.
It was quite by coincidence that the war veterans realized the power they had over the ZANU PF government.
In the year 2000 they began a series of demonstrations which had the support of the people. They had seen too many of their “chefs” living it up while they lived in poverty. Their leader, Robert Mugabe had lied to them in the bush, promising them what he could not deliver and they wanted to be paid. They demanded $50 000 each from the treasury coffers.
A high ranking military official and war veteran revealed in an interview that at the time the country had no money. Robert Mugabe was not willing to take extra measures to appease them. And so he decided to ignore them.
“The war veterans would not be ignored,” he said. “They started physically threatening the chef, telling him that they gave him the power to be President of Zimbabwe and they could take it away.”
He said to prove their point, they began to arm themselves with weapons left over from the war that they had hidden. They re opened their communication channels and organized themselves into an internal military force which had hands in every military and central intelligence branch of the country.
“The chef was not safe from them. The war vets had connections everywhere. It was hard on everyone because we couldn’t go against our own. We may have been in the military, but we could not fight our other army,” he said.
What finally broke Mugabe’s resolve was an incident that occurred while he was holding a secret meeting with his highest ranking military officials. Within 30 minutes of the meeting starting, Mugabe received a call from a war vet.
“We had a meeting in a secret location to discuss them and what we should do in terms of internal security. We took many precautions to make sure we would have no problems or leaks. We were only in that meeting for about 30 minutes when the phone rang. The voice on the end said it didn’t appreciate the comments the chef had made about the war vets. The comments had only been made a few minutes earlier,” he said.
Robert caved in. He printed more money and paid them off. And so the slide into poverty began for all Zimbabweans. The usefulness of the Zimbabwe dollar effectively came to an end that day. The people paid with their future to keep Robert in power.
In that year, a happy war veteran who received his $50 000 in brand new printed notes decided to celebrate. He took a taxi from Harare to Johannesburg!
With their new found power, the war veterans’ demands continued, getting higher and higher, despite the damage it was doing to our country.
They demanded stands in Harare and when that didn’t materialize fast enough, they invaded farms.
The war veterans were at the forefront of the farm invasions. The war veterans’ association members single handedly occupied 1700 farms. During the invasions, a series of kidnappings, beatings and child sexual abuse took place.
But that was not the only damage the war veterans wreaked upon the country. They completely destroyed livestock, farming implements and tools, which destroyed Zimbabwe’s chance of rising from the farm invasion commotion sooner.
The war veterans justified their actions by saying that land was the reason they had gone to war and they wanted it. Statistics today will prove that not even one percent of them are farmers today. For their trouble however, they were given prime land in Harare by the Harare commission which was run by Elijah Chanakira at the time.
It is no surprise therefore that the recent elections have angered the war veterans who believe they are above the law because they are the only citizens of the country Zimbabwe.
It is no surprise that the war veterans have marched in support of their President and their way of life. The reality is that the war veterans didn’t liberate us. They exchanged places with the Rhodesian oppressors.
During the war, they called us the “povo” which we jokingly state was an abbreviation that stood for “people of valueless opinions.” Perhaps we should stop laughing. When one listens to Jabulani Sibanda, one realizes that indeed the war veterans see us as a people who should never have a political say in our lives. They truly believe they can force us into bending to their will.
There have been news reports that the war veterans have once again rushed onto the farms of Zimbabwe and once again caused the deaths of 11 people in politically motivated violence.
Their national chairperson, Jabulani Sibanda has strenuously insisted that all the actions being taken by his organization are in the interests of the Zimbabwean people. Have the war veterans taken a poll? How do they know the wishes of the people when they stopped representing them in 1979?
As far as the war veterans association is concerned, they are the final line in preserving our freedom. Whatever happened to the Zimbabwe National Army? Aren’t they the ones who are supposed to “protect” the citizens and taxpayers?
Who gave the Association the authority to audaciously claim that what they do is in the interests of the people of Zimbabwe?
According to AFP Jabulani Sibanda didn’t deny that his fellow war veterans were running amuck again. He said they were investigating “claims that whites were preparing to take back the land.”
“Some went to farms to investigate the groupings of white people. War veterans are disciplined,” he said.
After warning any white people who had ideas of getting their land back, he said, “The people of this country, they are prepared and ready to protect their country if there is an invasion, an invasion of any kind,” he said.
Mr Sibanda was not talking about the millions of Zimbabweans association destroyed. He was talking about the more than 50 000 members of the association who make up the country, “Zimbabwe.”
As far as the war veterans are concerned, Zimbabweans are children, who need to be told what to think and how to feel. They believe that only they know the true path the country should take and the rest of us should work for them and keep our mouths, hopes, dreams and aspirations to ourselves.
And so they have committed crimes against the people. When the end comes, and it will come, all living war veterans should be tried for crimes against humanity.
The war veterans want to keep us enslaved, and so they force their President and their ideologies on us.
Tambu Kahari is Metro’s Lifestyle Columnist, and she can be contacted on tapilicious@zimbabwemetro.com
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I still have a problem understanding who these War vets are because most war vets are old now who are these 20 year old then.
I have brothers and relatives who were once Zanla and Zipra they are all old not the ages of the ones i see victimising people, therefore i believe these guys victimising people in the name of war vets are young stupid boys who failed their o-levels now they can’t find jobs so they are resorting to these disgusting acts. Time will come they will all be rounded up and jailed come change.
Ndapota hangu. Kana tichinyora tizive kuti vanhu vanoveranga vane njere.
Did the war vets demonstrate in 2000. Were they given gratuities in 2000. I stopped reading the piece when I saw this wreckless article.
If one wants to inform the public they need to bother checking facts.
Please Metro. We deserve better.
Hapana nyaya apa. Mugabe akaruza after these same so-called war veterans voted against him as well. This article is pointless
The black Friday was in November 1997. Her story is ok. Why trying to shoot due to one error?
Its factual. I was in Buhera during the war. Most of those who call themselves war vets and knowledgeble spent their time killing innocent civilians and sleeping with girls. They never fired a shot. Now they again hold the nation at ransom together with a some youths working for CIO who are very overzealous and think that being CIO means being above the law. Remember in SA those who perpetrated similar madness are now regretting.
Panganai! why do you always have the tendency to split hairs? The most important point is how this girl has so clearly described what happened. I salute the way she put issues on the table.Thanks Tambu. Wabaya gudo nemumukanwa.That’s how this whole mess happened in Zimbabwe. I admire the simple manner in which you put your observations down. This is the basic truth you are telling.Don’t worry about the Panganais, they are party of the gravy train.
You see the war vets new Mugabe’s biggest weakness, ie the love for power, and they new he will do anything if they threatened his authority. That is why he panicked.He is their toy now so to speak.I think Mugabe should have learnt from the likes of Daniel Ortega on how to deal with these guys and also how to manage defeat. You see Ortega accepted election results and see where he is today, back in power gracefully.
panganai yagara ingori horo nekare
where does metro get these sexy mamas? are they single?last week there was this article about man’s size. how can i get hold of these mamas if indeed they are single.
Firstly i would like to pay my respects to the war vets-they did the honourable thing and fought a war when food was available.It took a lot of courage to live your friends and family behind to fight for the ultimate freedom-they fought a war for the right reasons and their only inspiration was to be free and give land back to the landless blacks.
If the british and the zim gvt had not gone on and on regarding the land issue then things would be different today.They watched their coleagues butchered by ian smith but they fought until victory day 18th april 1980.
The redistribution could have been better managed-but it was not to be.There are all sorts of reasons as to why that process failed…the fact remains the only option left was violent solution.If gvts do not obey the cries of the people then let the people exercise their power.
There is no gvt without people and people have the ultimate power.The war vets were getting old and some perished before land was redistributed to the people. They had to see the efforts of the war rewarded before they all perished.It was a bad move but the correct move.
The prevailing circumstances at the time forced them to act in that manner.The politicians had failed to resolve the issue 20 years from independence–madness.The reasons that led to that madness are well documented but i do not hear anyone discussing them.It is no different from people who only talk about gukurahundi and never mention the atrocities commited by the rhodesians at chimoio and nyadzonya.How come you can forgive for those crimes and not gukurahundi -after the unity accord 1987 gukurahundi was not forgotten but put to rest.why does it keep coming back?
To the war vets i salute your courage -for without your efforts we would still be under the Rhodesians…we do not condone violence aginst each other so lets now find a peaceful solution so we can move on.We are noe in control of our land…thanks to you galant sons and daughters of zimbabwe.
viva zimbabwe.
This article is kind of a write off. The write is uninformed or uneducated
Research for better artcles in the future and PLEASE SEPARATE RHETORIC FROM REALITY
BEING A WAR VET MYSELF AND HAVING SEEN IT ALL, IT MAKES ME CRY WHENEVER I LOOK AT THE STATE IN WHICH THE COUNTRY WE FOUGHT FOR IS NOW! WE PLAYED OUR PART AND THOSE WHO ARE MAKING NOISE ON MUGABE’S BEHALF VANA CHAIVO, THEY HAVE NO IDEA KURWADZA KWAZVINOITA KANA CHAWAKAFIRA CHAPARADZWA BY SOMEONE WHO WAS ALWAYS RUNNING UP AND DOWN OR IN PRISON ISU TICHIFONDOKA NEKURWA.
IT’S TIME MUGABE SHOULD ADMIT THAT HE HAS FAILED US AS WAR VETS AND FAILED THE NATION AS A WHOLE. CHATAKARWIRA RUSUNUNGUKO, BUT IT APPEARS AS IF OUR ONLY ACHIEVEMENT AT INDEPENDENCE WAS TO CHANGE THE COLOUR OF OUR OPPRESSOR FROM WHITE TO BLACK!
I think we must do away the self-defeating black-mail tendencies and stop this monotonous song of he-ee, takaenda kuhondo, he-ee tiri maexcombatants. War Veterans must be respected yes, there are always occasions to mark their heroism and to remember their sacrifices but they must stay out of poiltics and so should be the serving soldiers and the police. Tosvikepi tichingoimba rwiyo rwehondo day in and day out!!!
respect the war vets-they deserve it.respect the tomb of the unknown soldier for they were galant warriors who stood up to be counted-respect those who gave themselves up to free you-respect magamba edu-cherrish them like there is no tomorrow.
zimbabwe is free unless you are mdc..you choose not to be free.All the other political parties are going on about their business..no problem. I sometimes wear simba’s t-shirt which i got for free-no one bothers me.
That tells its own story…
the zimbabwean newspaper headline says-mdc furious electoions are being delayed…
Roll back to last week—we cant take part in this run off because we have no budget -no campaign funds..we are being victimised…we need western observers…what what.
who thinks for these idiots?
ndaneta ne mdc…god help-who invented this nonsense? zanu pf has failed to protect us from this circus.Please do something before i go scuicidal…i am fed up of all the lies…aaaaaaaaaah!!!!!
people like me have been peaceful -now we are being pushed…soon we will override the gvt to protect our interests…..people are shitting all over zanu pf..they say whatever crap they want when they want …..no no no..isu magandanga taneta …saka come what may!!!!!
tambu kahari iwe hatikuzive iwe? kuzvikoro zvikuru unenge wanga usiko iwe nematauriro ako ayo asina kunyatsorongeka. rogedza ma ideas ako kuti tiwone udzamu wekunyora kwako. unenge usina kana ideological base zvakare iwe? inga zvaritori dambudziko apa? kunge unokusha mapfunde mumunda?
Who let this woman put this up.ITS LIKE COMPOSITION WRITTEN BY A FORM 1.BETTER FORM ONE GRADE 7
STALIN, MADZORE NACHANGAMIRE DOMBO…
NYARARAI MHANI IMI! PROBABLY MURI MABORN FREE ANONGOITA RUZHA RWUSINA BASA. NYIKA IRI MUMOTO, VANHU VARI KUFA, NZARA TATAMBURA, MWANA WANGU ARI KURWARA ASI KUCHIPATARA HAKUNA MISHONGA, OUR LIFE EXPECTANCY IS THE LOWEST AT 35, DZIDZO YAPARARA MATICHA MUCHIROVA NEKUURAYA MUCHITI NDEVEMDC. IMI VACHO YOU ARE CLAIMING KUTI MAKARWIRA RUSUNUNGUKO AND YET ISU MACOMRADES CHAIWO AKARWA HONDO HAMUTIONE TICHIPONDA VANHU VATAKARWIRA. IT’S PAINFUL TO REALIZE KUTI ZANU HAS BLINDED YOU. ISU MA WAR VETERANS ECHOKWADI HATICHADA MUGABE, HAMUTIONE TICHIITA RUZHA RWAMURI KUITA ZVANA ZVIDIKI.
IT’S ABOUT TIME MUGABE SHOULD ADMIT HIS FAILURE! THAT’S ALL WE WANT OF HIM. HATICHINA BASA NEKUMUTONGERA MHOSVA DZAKE, ATOFA KARE!
WE ONLY WANT HIM OUT! CHINYARARAI
- One thing which i have noticed that is typical of our beloved party comrades is, in the absence of FACTS, we always resort to insults and denigration. We can never discuss facts and articulate out ideologies, because as you know we dont need facts and figures because they are a product of the west brought about to reverse the gains of our hard won independance!
- I have resolved, that this Morgan Tsvangirai traitor is a really powerful man comrades, maybe more powerful than Cde RGM himself, he single handly incited the west to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe, instructed the IMF and the World Bank to withhold balance of payments support, which in turn sent inflation soaring to 355 000% year on year in March, emptied all supermarkets of commodities, caused extensive power and water cuts, reduced agricultural production to nought and industrial capacity to near 10% and emptied the central banks coffers of all forex… All this could not be averted with the support of one of the world largest and fast growing economies. Dont know about you comrades, but i am tempted to vote for this man…
- But not to worry, not even for that will i sell my birth right.. Because we all know that Zimbabwe will never be a colony again! The Herald still lives to weave another tail of deceit, lies and violence at the hand of those traitors. Cant you see comrades it makes so much sense that the opposition would be going out and unleashing violence on our beloved people, the little they have done is not enough and they feel the victory they won is not enough, but not to worry, on the June 27 we will show them, in the words our revolutionary leader Cde RGM, we don’t do rounds like boxing it will be a know out!
iwe zimbabwe-people are suffering because your leader opted for regime change through that tactic-so his tactics are working.soon you will be in power but kuchafiwa nenzara before that happens..believe me these idiots are also prepared for war-we know the score..zanu pf looks at all possibilities because we are not fools.
unofunga ship yaibva kuchina kuzotamba nhodo here? Pachafiwa one way or the other-isu wamwe we have also lost relatives in this war and thats how we see it now-as war and there is no going back until the enermy is defeated.If you dont know who the enermy is then stay out of politics..its not for you.
zimbabwe never had all these problems until the creation of the mdc who legitimised the sanctions since 1998 or there about. for 17 years we had corruption etc but we had everything still.corruption alone can not bring a country down…
look at our inflation rate —compare with sudan . Now tell me who should be having the highest inflation? sudan has been at war for how long? it is a war zone-you cant do business there…zimbabwe is not even close to that..300 thousand die in sudan per year..zimbabwe -may be 20-through violence and its only recently…this inflation is designed to make our leader look bad-through economic sabotage and it is well orchestrated.we know all the businesses in the uk that do it..even those in zimbabwe..even banks are at it..let be known.
They took assylum seekers to make our leader look bad-after they had been used zvikanzi well chidzokerayi kumba because there is no evidence of human rights abuses—-people still have these letters ku London …ask them.
so what do you make of that? KUSHANDISWA…DID MORGAN SAY ANYTHING TO DEFEND THESE PEOPLE…NO!!!HE JUST WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT..NOT A CARE IN THE WORLD ABOUT THESE PEOPLE..EVEN THOSE SUFFERING IN SOUTH AFRICA…BASA KUNGO MHANYA MHANYA TANISHING MUGABES IMAGE…MUCHADYA IZVO ZVO.
ZANU HAITAMBE NHODO ICHIDARO. INFLATION NDIYO YANZI ICHAMUBVISA CHETE-ITS SUPPOSED TO CAUSE A VIOLENT UPRISING AGAINST THE GVT..MANJE REGIME CHANGE YACHO ICHAIRASA NEKUTI PACHAFIWA…I AM STREET WISE SO TAKE MY WORD..THOSE WHITE PEOPLE THINK THEY CAN SIT AND WATCH EVENTS UNFOLD—WACHAONA MOTO SOONER OR LATER.WACHABATWABATWA VERY SOON.REMEMBER 2000? WE WILL NEVER REVERSE THE LAND GAINS..TAKARWA HONDO KUDHARA SAKA THIS NEW ONE IS NOTHING..WE ARE EVEN IN A BETTER POSITION THAN BEFORE…BEFORE WE HAD TO ATTACK BUT NOW WE ARE JUST DEFENDING…DEFENDING OUR LAND.
WHY SHOULD OUR INFLATION RATE BE GREATER THAN SUDAN? ANY ECONOMISTS PLEASE ANSWER-NOT MADOFO WE MDC.DONT TELL ME RUBBISH ABOUT CORRUPTION AND MISMANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY-THATS JUST A SMALL PART OF IT..WE SHOULD NOT HAVE THIS KIND OF INFLATION RATE EVEN IF THINGS ARE THIS BAD….OUR STOCKMARKET IS ONE OF THE BEST PERFORMERS IN THE WORD…SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT !!USE YOUR BRAINS NOW.
Zimbabwe, you are a tired man, too tired to be innovative. Political dynamics require imagination and informed minds, both of which you do not have. Indepth analysis does not need one to be a ‘born free’ or ‘born when’ - it just needs sharper minds. I am sorry that your ideas are both blunt and obtuse - you have to work on your limitations. Manje kana ndiri seni I regret to tell you that handigoni both in Zimbabwe and away, in or out of ZANU PF, but will still operate far from the madding crowd and collective madness they call MDC!
at least you are not just a pretty face!
I am a war veteran. and i dislike people who want to cover up for ZANU and its ruling elite. It is this ruling elite that is to blame. The ruling elites like Gono are the ones fleecing the country. Has this woman ever heard of an organizations called the ZimbabweLiberators Platform? This is a war veterans organization. Since 2000, this organization has consistently been putting out statements distancing itself from Mugabe’s intention to portray war veterans as being behind him. This organization has also consistently appealed to misguided war veterans by showing them they are being used. It is also probable that the large majority of those who commit crimes are not real war veterans. At the end of the day, to call for a witch-hunt for all war veterans is childish and stupid.