The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) Manicaland chapter have complained that at least 77 war veterans were victimized and unfairly removed from land allocated to them in Manicaland province. This was revealed by ZNLWVA Manicaland chapter chairperson David Garwe at a press conference held in Mutare recently.
Garwe pleaded with President Emmerson Mnangagwa to appoint a new Minister of War Veterans and Liberation Struggle Affairs who will sincerely address the challenges being faced by war veterans’ accross the country. Mnangagwa recently sacked the War Veterans and Liberation Struggle Affairs Minister Christopher Mutsvangwa over alleged insubordination.
“The sacrifices made by war veterans during the liberation struggle were driven by a vision for a free and prosperous Zimbabwe where land will be distributed fairly and equitably among its people. It is deeply unjust and contrary to the principles of justice and equality to witness war veterans being subjected to prejudice and discrimination when it comes to land.
“We have a lot of comrades whose land was dispossessed and some were treated unjustly in terms to land. We have a list of about 77 comrades whose farms were taken. There are a lot of well documented complains about farms which have not been addressed,” Garwe said.
He said that war veterans were the vanguard of the liberation hence their rights were supposed to be respected.
“The maltreatment of war vets is inhumane as they are being chased away from their farms. Government and the ruling party will lose its credibility.
“As an organisation dedicated to uphold the rights and welfare of war veterans, we firmly assert that it is imperative to safeguard their rightful claims to land which they fought for during the noble struggle for liberation.
“The dispossession of land is a violation of both the provisions of section 21 cited above and sections 23 and 84 of the Constitution which direct the State and all institutions and agencies of government to accord us due respect,” he said.
Garwe noted that the removal of Christopher Mutsvangwa was a welcome development since he ignored their grievances.
“We would like to put it on record that as war veterans, we do not celebrate nor cherish the demise of a colleague, more so a fellow war veteran but we feel greatly relieved when an obstacle to the realization of our welfare goals is removed. He was an obstacle and was even pompous. We can assure our colleagues that the way has been opened for us to escalate our welfare issue,” Garwe said.
The call comes at a time the country is gripped by the Operation Order No to Land Barons which saw a number of people being arrested for illegally settling in gazetted land. Garwe was accompanied by the ZNLWVA national secretary for lands Mike Makiweni, provincial secretary-general Ivan Mbengo and provincial deputy chairperson Tanda Rambiwa, among other war veterans.
Source TellZim
