The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Liberators and War Collaborators Association (ZILIWACO) has thrown its weight behind the Zanu-PF Youth League in its fight against corruption, saying that graft in Government and the ruling party needed to be weeded out urgently if the country is to forge ahead with its economic reform agenda.
Speaking yesterday at a meeting whose focus was to fine tune ZILIWACO’s Matabeleland North structures before the organisation’s elective congress tentatively set for August, national vice-chairperson Cde Josephine Gandiya said war collaborators were fully behind the Youth
League as it continued to fight the rot in the country and the ruling party’s higher offices.
The Youth League recently denounced corruption by naming and shaming individuals alleged to be involved in corrupt and underhand dealings in a ploy to sabotage the economy and President Mnangagwa.
“Corruption is killing this country.
We as the war collaborators are rallying behind the Youth League in the fight against corruption that they’ve started.
When you see corruption at district level why can’t you report it?
The fight against corruption starts with personal responsibility.
Basically we’re saying what are you doing personally to fight this scourge that has impoverished our country?” said Cde Gandiya.
Cde Gandiya said war collaborators would soon undergo a vetting process to enable them to start to benefit from Government’s welfare programmes.
She added that war collaborators should not be duped by bogus war veterans who were going around claiming they would be doing the vetting.
“We’re not vetted by war veterans because we realised that some of them might be pushing their own interests as well.
There are some war veterans going around claiming that they’re going to be vetting people. We say that’s a lie.
Only the Government can vet us. In Cabinet there is a committee that is chaired by Vice-President Chiwenga.
“They are now waiting to make a presentation to the Cabinet and from then on it will go from the ministry and then to Parliament.
In Parliament Retired Major-General Sibangumuzi Khumalo (MP for Tsholotsho North) has been tasked by Cde Togarepi Pupurai, the Zanu-PF Chief Whip to bring up the motion.
We had a meeting with him where he told us he was going to move the motion because only the minister has power to give us money after getting an instruction from Parliament,” Cde Gandiya said.
Before the elective congress, Cde Gandiya said that ZILIWACO would hold a conference where some contentious issues would be thrashed out.
“Before we go to congress we need to hold a conference. This is what we are going to do in the Midlands and we have set a tentative date of 25 July.
Why the Midlands?
We chose that province because we believe we have to thank it for giving birth to our President. That’s the province that gave us a Head of State.
I would also like to add that being a war collaborator is not about age.
It’s all about what has been stated and written down to indicate what constitutes a mujibha or chimbwido,” she said.
Representing the Coalition Against Sanctions, Cde Shine Chakanyuka said it was every ZILIWACO member’s duty to educate members of the public about the debilitating effects of sanctions.
