Only an idiot will doubt the origins or authenticity of a letter that is delivered to them by the author and signatory of the letter, no matter the nature of the contents, unless the author is certified to have lost control of their mental faculties or wrote the letter at gunpoint.
THE ORACLE BY TANGAI CHIPANGURA The war veterans’ divorce letter to President Robert Mugabe which was issued last Thursday was delivered in broad daylight by the ex-fighters themselves through their leaders.
The war veterans did not issue the divorce communiqué in silence. They spoke at length, stressing the points raised in the divorce letter, to allay any doubts about the origins of the communiqué.
The war veterans’ leaders who issued the communiqué did not hide their identities. They stood up and spoke in front of hundreds of their members and structural leaders who had travelled from all over the country to represent thousands of members who sent them to bear witness and ownership of this historical event.
That all the war veterans’ district and provincial leaders who attended the Thursday divorce case were aware and in agreement with the decision to part ways with Mugabe, is not in doubt. They were all excited — clapping hands, ululating and chanting slogans loudly in assent to the divorce proceedings before, during and after the delivery of the divorce papers.
So, for anyone to seek to suggest that the war veterans gathered in Harare on Thursday were not aware or in agreement with the purpose of the meeting, can only be described as the folly of a sick mind.
All the war veterans’ leaders are known; their identities are not a secret. Save for their chairman Christopher Mutsvangwa, they were all there at the Thursday meeting and they spoke clearly and loudly about the decision to dump their patron, Mugabe in public. It is curious then how government officials, in their capacities as custodians of the government instruments that were put in place to provide war veterans with social needs — but not to lead them — could claim otherwise.
Government, through the Welfare Services for War Veterans ministry, is there to look after the welfare needs of war veterans but not to direct the thinking of the ex-fighters.
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In other words, government does not govern war veterans but only governs issues to do with their welfare. In the same vein, the war veterans’ ministry does not have the power to interrogate or investigate the ex-fighters’ activities, or meetings that have nothing to do with their welfare — let alone the power to punish them.
It is, therefore, ridiculous for the secretary for the ministry, Walter Tapfumaneyi to claim that the war veterans whose leaders at district, provincial and national levels spoke out their minds publicly and then issued a written document to buttress their position to dump their patron — not their leader — Mugabe, are in fact fully “behind and loyal” to him.
He also claims that “all those who attended the meeting” have distanced themselves from the “traitorous and treasonous” communiqué. One wonders what Tapfumaneyi thinks the war veterans had gathered for then; why, if they were not in agreement with what was going on, they loudly applauded the speakers and pumped powerful fists into the air in agreement. One would also wonder at what point Tapfumaneyi spoke to “all those who attended the meeting” to establish his claims of their being “behind and loyal” to their patron.
It is also helpful and instructive to note that the same Tapfumaneyi, who all of a sudden speaks so authoritatively about the war vets “traitorous and treasonous” communique, had ealier on the same day told NewsDay that he was not qualified to speak on issues to do with war veterans’ political positions. He said he was just a technical person in the ministry whose sole mandate was to deliver on the ex-fighters’ welfare issues.
“my mandate is technical. I would rather you get in touch with the minister. I cannot comment on political matters,” Tapfumaneyi said.
Yes, this latest affront on Mugabe’s leadership could be the most shocking and least expected, but it does not change things or help matters for anybody to be in denial of what has happened — or to threaten with “punishment” an idea whose time has come.
The issue here is that war veterans, Mugabe’s hitherto strongest and most influential support base, have broken ranks with their patron. The fact is that the liberation war fighters have decided they have had enough of Mugabe and they want him to leave office because they blame his continued stay for their misery.
They said: “We are saying this country will only go up when Mugabe steps aside because his management is no longer respected by anyone, including his own ministers.”
Now, the above words were said openly and loudly by the war veterans’ national political commissar, Francis Nhando. They were not said in the “traitorous and treasonous” communiqué which Tapfumaneyi claims “all those that attended the meeting”, including Nhando, have distanced themselves from.
These words came out from the mouth of a high official of the war veterans’ national leadership and are not contained in the communiqué for which Tapfumaneyi says “multi-agency investigations are underway to establish its origins, authorship, ownership and purpose…”
What Tapfumaneyi, and others that are still in this vain denial, should come to terms with is that the sentiments being expressed by Zimbabweans at large about the state of the economy, the obtaining painful poverty and national misery, are genuine and not fake.
Trying to get Mugabe to believe that the people of Zimbabwe are very happy with the manner in which he is running this country is being cruel to the president. It is not right to try and make Mugabe feel wanted and popular by bussing into the city thousands of people after luring them with land and claiming they are happy with his rule.
The war veterans — Mugabe’s known last bastion — have clearly said they have cut ties with him and will not support his election campaign anymore.
“How do you campaign for someone you do not like and who does not like you either? The relationship between us as war veterans and the president has broken down, he and the party don’t like us anymore.”
This is the hard fact that Mugabe needs to come to terms with. Everything comes to an end Cde President. Listen to your people and leave. Feedback: [email protected]
