By Christopher Makaza
War veterans have welcomed the move by Zanu PF to introduce the League of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle as an organ of the ruling party saying the development will go a long way in strengthening the party ahead of 2023 harmonised elections.
Zanu PF Secretary for Legal Affairs, Paul Mangwana said the ruling party`s Legal Affairs Department came up with a proposal to amend the party`s Constitution to introduce as a party organ, the League of the veterans of the Liberation Struggle and to incorporate the District Coordinating Committees (DCC).
Speaking to Harare Post, war veteran Mr Tinos Tareza from Mashonaland West praised the New Dispensation for recognising the liberation war heroes.
“We applaud Zanu PF leadership particularly President Emmerson Mnangagwa for recognising and appreciating the role we played to liberate our great nation. For a long time, we have been yearning to work with Zanu PF for the good of the country, unfortunately we were not recognised by the previous dispensation,” he said.
Mr Tareza said there was no way people could separate Zanu PF from war veterans because war veterans were the ones who gave birth to the ruling party, hence the need to work together to strengthen it.
Political analyst, Mr Simbarashe Chimhini also welcomed the development saying the old dispensation had failed to accommodate war veterans into the party and unfortunately sacked their leadership because of differences in political views.
“The old dispensation had some differences with war veterans as they accused them of interfering in the ruling party`s politics and factional fights. Former Zanu PF leadership used to tell the war veterans that politics lead the gun which was not proper.
“Under the old dispensation, most war veterans leaders were sacked, the likes of Jabulani Sibanda and Douglas Mahiya because they were viewed as anti-Zanu PF. It is good that President Mnangagwa has thought of normalising the situation and I am sure Zanu PF will be stronger after this integration,” he said.
Mangwana said the amendments would be presented at the 18th Zanu PF Annual People’s Conference to be held in Goromonzi in December.
He highlighted that the League will be constituted by war veterans, war collaborators and ex-detainees and will have structures from district to national level, adding that the Central Committee will be responsible for providing rules and regulations regarding thethe elections of the League’s office bearers.
The development will enable veterans of the liberation struggle to pass values of determination, discipline and dedication to the party’s future leaders. These values are important in ensuring that one is capable of doing the task at hand regardless of persecution from hostile nations such as America that has imposed illegal sanctions on the motherland.
Secondly, ZANU PF is likely to emerge more united as discipline ensures that everyone tow the party line and follow internal mechanism for redress in the event of misunderstandings.
