Chris Mutsvangwa Let Us Down - ZIPRA Veterans
The Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) war veterans association said Christopher Mutsvangwa failed them during his stint as the Minister of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs.
Mutsvangwa, who is the chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), was removed from the Cabinet by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on 03 February this year.
Several ZIPRA members were reportedly abducted at the barracks and made to disappear or killed after their integration into the Zimbabwe National Army soon after independence in 1980.
NewsDay reported ZIPRA Veterans Association secretary-general Petros Sibanda as saying Mutsvangwa failed to address the issue of their comrades killed during the Gukurahundi era and that of pensions for those who were dismissed from the army. Said Sibanda:
We expected him to come out and tell the nation what is going to happen to the comrades, who fell during the Gukurahundi era.
You remember most of the ZIPRA comrades… some dismissed from the army are yet to receive their pensions.
Others have already died. We thought Mutsvangwa was going to do something about that. Maybe he was too busy. He remains our comrade, who slept on duty.
We are not celebrating as such, and we don’t want to be involved in the wars of his political party.
But what I can say is since 2017, when he [Mutsvangwa] went near the corridors of power, we celebrated as veterans of the liberation struggle, anticipating that he would fight for our rights.
Sibanda also said they expected Mutsvangwa as the Minister of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs to address the matter of ZIPRA properties that were confiscated by the government. He said:
We also thought he would make a follow-up on the vetted comrades who are yet to get compensation.
We hoped he was going to interfere as one of our comrades on the issue of the property rights, convincing His Excellency (President Emmerson Mnangagwa), that the caveat should be removed and return these properties.
ZIPRA was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) party which was led by Joshua Nkomo before it merged with ZANU in 1987.
More: Pindula News
