Takunda Mandura

A group of war veterans today announced that they had taken the decision to revoke the Mgagao Declaration which ushered President Robert Mugabe to the helm of the ruling ZANU PF party.

Speaking at a press conference at the Media Centre, a former commander of the High Command Bernard Manyadza known as Cde Parker during the war said that Mugabe’s mandate was only supposed to last until the war was over and the party and the masses would choose a new leader in the new Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe has been at the helm of the country since 1980 but his grip on power has been slipping as his rule has been facing opposition from war veterans who are unhappy about the increasing influence of Mugabe’s wife and her group known as G-40.

Manyadza went on to question Mugabe’s fitness  to lead Zimbabwe

“Recently he has been caught napping whilst on government duty. It is quite evident that Mugabe is no longer fit to discharge the onerous responsibilities of running a government and should be urged to retire,”said Manyadza

Manyadza accused the Mugabe regime of leading the country into economic hardships, as Zimbabwe  once the bread basket but now it is a laughing stock.

“To our fellow comrades, we take this opportunity to remind you that Mugabe no longer represent your interest .He is on the record pausing the question ‘were you forced to join the armed struggle?” he said.

The veterans blamed Mugabe for making himself the only centre of power and then taking down the country down a ruinous path as a result of this absolute power.

“The country is now in poverty. We did not fight for this poverty” said Cde Ngoni Chitauro.

Asked why it had taken 36 years for the war veterans to voice their concerns against the leadership of President Mugabe Chitauro said that they had tried to remove Mugabe but he had succeeded in purging those opposed to his leadership.

The war veterans also castigated Mugabe for trying to create a Mugabe dynasty in Zimbabwean politics.

“You hear people are expelled for disrespecting the first family, what first family? Who is the last family? We did not fight for a first, second or third family. We fought for an equal Zimbabwe”

Turning to the recently held war veterans’ indaba the former fighters claimed that while Mugabe had tactically outmaneuvered war veterans, he had not realised any strategic gains.

The press conference was attended by 9 war veterans who claimed to have been in the ZANLA high command and general staff.

The ZANU PF spokesman Cde Simon Khaya-Moyo could not be reached for comment.