Fissures have begun to appear within the ruling ZANU-PF party over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s alleged maneuver to remain in office beyond the permitted two terms, with war veterans warning they will oppose “dynastic rule”.
The strong words used by a faction of the former liberation war, which has practically taken control of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) – an affiliate of the ZANU-PF party – are the first indication of internal opposition to those demanding Mnangagwa’s execution. On power.
On Friday, Bulawayo police prevented the ZNLWVA from holding a meeting amid suspicions that the meeting organizers were seen as spoilers for the party.
The meeting was organized by ZNLWVA and led by Andreas Mathebela.
Sources said that within Zanu PF circles, Mathebela’s leadership is seen as a resistance movement to the broader political plans drawn up by Mnangagwa and his faction.
The sources said that there is an effort to dismiss Mathibela and his team to make life easier for Mnangagwa’s loyalists in the third term.
After the ZNLWVA meeting was banned, Mathebela held a press conference in Bulawayo where he warned that former liberation war fighters would block moves to keep Mnangagwa in office beyond the end of his second term.
He also criticized the police for disrupting their planned meeting.
In a veiled attack on those behind Mnangagwa’s bid for a third term, Mathibela said: “On March 16 and 17, 2013, Zimbabweans voted en masse in favor of a new constitution following a referendum in which the voter turnout reached 95.5%.
“There was consensus in this constitutional decision on the irreversibility of the agrarian reform program and the rationality of limiting the presidential term to two five-year terms.
“…However, today we have witnessed the unofficial abandonment of the indigenization laws, which sought to reverse years of colonial injustice and domination by protecting Zimbabwean citizens from future hidden recolonization practices and the dispossession of our rightful heritage by the new colonial masters.”
“Similarly, we have witnessed massive damage done by a few sloganeering misfits, who seek to feel the waters by conditioning the population to accept the abrogation of our sacred constitutional provisions, thus attempting to usher in open dynastic rule in Zimbabwe,” he added. . “Let them be careful.” standard
