The Sunday Mail
Vukani Madoda The Sharp Shooter
For close to twenty years now, the veterans of Zimbabwe’s war of liberation which was fought between 1966 and 1979 have demanded their pound of flesh with such ferocity that at times, the ordinary civilians have felt that what was a liberation movement might have turned into an entitlement movement somewhere along the way.
While we appreciate the sacrifices that were made by our war veterans, they should be able to draw the line when it comes to their claim to privileges.
It is now their responsibility to shun self-aggrandisement and self-serving missions that border on usurping the electoral power of the people.
It therefore came as no surprise when the Head of State and Government and the commander-in-chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces swiftly moved to curtail any misguided ambitions that some ill-advised war veterans have been blindly pushing for under the veil of a successionist agenda.
President Mugabe has been very clear in terms of the leadership of this country.
He has not minced his words on that it is the people who select their leader.
It is the people who helped the war veterans win the war of liberation through providing food, refuge and information.
While an estimated 30 000 war veterans lost their lives during the second Chimurenga, the people made it possible for the war veterans who live today to survive and tell the tale.
Regrettably, the tale is not being told in truth.
The tale is not giving equal or due credit where it is expected to.
The people, as the Chinese revolutionary Chairman Mao reiterated, were the sea while the war veterans were the fish in that sea. While the sea can survive without fish, the fish on the other hand, cannot survive without the sea.
Without the people’s support, there can never be legitimacy.
The war veterans could not have liberated this country without the people and the spirit mediums. Everybody who was not in support of the racist colonial regime was directly or indirectly supporting the liberation of this country and a lot of them were compensated.
They were compensated with racial harmony, the abolition of racial segregation and slavery. Effectively, the compensation for all Zimbabweans was the creation of a level playing field and the advent of the third Chimurenga finalised the fairness of opportunities available to all Zimbabweans to this very day.
But in 1997, the Zanu PF Government offered US$4 000 as compensation to every war veteran for having fought in the protracted liberation struggle.
However, some war veterans considered the offer an insult. While they were considering it an insult, the rest of the people who had played a very critical role during the liberation war simply demanded a leadership that would enable them to do business and farm on arable land.
The compensation offer came after months of the war veterans’ protests amid claims that there were irregularities in the war veterans’ compensation fund.
As violent protests continued in Harare back in 1997, President Mugabe ordered a judicial commission to investigate irregularities in the fund.
Following the outcome of the commission’s findings, the President agreed to pay all bona fide veterans lump sum handouts of Z$50,000 which was the equivalent of US$4,300 at that time and monthly pensions of Z$2,000 which was the equivalent of US$174 at that time.
After such a gesture of rare benevolence, what more could a war veteran want?
But soon after the 1997 payout, the war veterans continued their belligerent demands for higher pay-outs, going as far as ransacking the Zanu PF headquarters at some point. And little did we know that 19 years down the line, the same war veterans would continue demanding for more.
While many people vehemently objected to the payouts, I believe it was necessary.
However, I do not believe that the war veterans should continue to hold the country to ransom with exaggerated claims of entitlement.
Our beloved war veterans are overlooking the fact that in the past 19 years, a number of children have been born.
Some of them are now 19 years old and are eligible to vote. By 2018, another sizeable chunk of youths who have no recollection of the war of liberation or what the compensation is all about, will be voting for political leaders of their choice.
All these youths are now part of the povo, the very povo that once supported the war veterans during the fight against colonial injustices.
This demographic group will not tolerate unreasonable demands.
They are part of the electorate that play the most critical role in selecting the leadership of this country.
The only voice of reason right now is that of President Mugabe.
Dubulaizitha!
