Editorial Comment
The much publicized war veterans indaba between disgruntled war veterans and President Robert Mugabe exposed both the former liberation fighters and President Mugabe to be selfish leaders who have very little regard for the suffering masses.
Many Zimbabweans were left speechless after war veterans made a long list of financial demands despite the harsh economic hardships being faced by the whole country.
Despite being fully aware that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has been failing to meet its revenue targets , the former fighters demanded a raise on the $260 allowance they are currently receiving. Many people have lost their jobs while others have gone without being paid and yet the war veterans are demanding huge financial perks.
They also demanded influential government positions perhaps so that they have access to the luxuries afforded to government officials. Most of the war veterans who have been given positions in state enterprises have done little to justify these appointments. The National Railways of Zimbabwe which was being led by a former commander of the air force is facing collapse.
Now they have demanded a stake in every mining venture and yet one of them Munyaradzi Machacha had an influential position in diamond mining at Chiadzwa. The masses gained nothing from these diamonds under his watch.
These demands exposed war veterans as self centered individuals with an unreasonable sense of entitlement. Worse still it exposed the fighters as being disconnected to the realities faced by the masses on a daily basis.
The meeting also exposed President Mugabe on two critical issues. Mugabe skirted around two important issues raised by the war veterans that affect public policy.
War veterans demanded that ministers be given performance based contracts. Those not measuring up would have to lose their jobs.Mugabe did not address this issue despite the fact that his government has had the same ministers since 1980 who have presided over the demise of the economy. He has over the years protected these ministers.
They also raised an important issue of corruption that Mugabe did not bother to address in his long winding speech. The war veterans warned that unpunished corruption in government would alienate the party from the masses but Mugabe remained mum about the matter despite escalating corruption within his government.
Mugabe also deliberately failed to address the issue of poor implementation of the indigenisation policy.He was told that it was being done in secrecy and benefiting only a few but there was no
response to this important matter.
Instead Mugabe spent more time on history and was more concerned with ordering the veterans to be disciplined after feeling threatened by growing dissent against him. It was clear that Mugabe is more concerned with keeping a tight grip on power that addressing the welfare of the masses.
The meeting exposed that both Mugabe and the war veterans are sides of the same coin ,both deeply consumed in their selfish agendas and with very little regard for the masses.
