The Sunday News
Dumisani Sibanda: Sunday News Correspondent
THE acting deputy chairman of the Mandi Chimene-led Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, Cde George Mlala, yesterday urged former freedom fighters to actively participate in Zanu-PF structures if they want to have influence in decision making in the revolutionary party.
Cde Mlala was addressing about 80 war veterans at Davies Hall in Bulawayo, which is the Zanu-PF provincial headquarters.
He said it was wrong for the war veterans to instruct Zanu-PF on who it should choose to lead it as the party was supreme to the former freedom fighters’ body.
Cde Mlala said it was wrong for the war veterans group loyal to Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa to say they were “passing a vote of no confidence in Vice-President (Phelekezela) Mphoko” and also “calling for the removal of Cde Saviour Kasukuwere as Zanu-PF Commissar so that he could be replaced by a war veteran”.
“It’s not our duty to tell the party who to appoint and let alone the Vice-President,” he said.
Cde Mlala said in Zanu-PF there was one centre of power, President Mugabe, who has the power to make appointments to the Politburo from people elected into the Central Committee.
“If you want to influence decisions as war veterans join the party from cell level and participate actively rather than think you can do it from outside,” he said.
Cde Mlala said even during the struggle the “gun always followed politics” and military commanders respected political leaders and never sought to usurp their leadership positions.
He said after the liberation struggle some war veterans, some of whom are now in the Politburo rose through the ranks within the party, like Cdes Obert Mpofu, Kembo Mohadi, Cain Mathema and Oppah Muchinguri. Cde Mlala said the war veterans association should subordinate itself to the ruling party, Zanu-PF.
“The party is supreme, we should remember,” he said. “There is no political party that produced war veterans other than PF-Zapu which had Zipra and Zanu-PF which had Zanla.”
He said there was nothing wrong with the “vote of no confidence” that was passed in Cde Mutsvangwa as chairman of the war veterans association as he was elected at a congress that was convened after a similar action had been taken on the then leader of the freedom fighters, Cde Jabulani Sibanda.
He said he will never “associate with people who do not respect the party leadership and want to destroy the party.”
“Mutsvangwa removed himself from the position he held in the war veterans association through his actions,” said Cde Mlala.
However, Cde Mutsvangwa successfully contested the “vote of no confidence” in him by the Cde Chimene group as chairman of the war veterans association and has maintained that he is still in charge of the former freedom fighters.
