By Takura Zhangazha*
Veterans from Zimbabwe’s liberation war are an ever present generational feature of our political landscape. Their narratives of struggle have largely been
captured by Zanu PF as a political party and as a former liberation movement.
They are however not uniform in how they
have responded to contemporary challenges that our society faces.
I have noticed that there are perhaps three strands of war
veterans. The largest grouping is that which
places emphasis on its historical roots being in Zanu PF (especially as a
united party after the Unity Accord in 1987).
These are the veterans who have been willing players in the fast track
land reform that began in the year 2000.
They have also been the most active supporters of their party during highly
contested elections as they occurred over the last thirteen years.
Recalling their loyalty to their party and their historical role
in the liberation struggles, these war veterans were at the height of campaigning
for Zanu Pf, often times violently, were
key to all the victories that came to claimed by their party. It is also this group of politically active
war veterans that continues to be at the heart of land redistribution and
allocation of land to citizens or even party supporters. This they help in distributing
both by way of being party activists or being senior civil servants or security
personnel. They are also involved in indigenisation
issues particularly where it comes to mining, safari operations and importing of
fuel.
There is a second strand of war veterans that are not as
politically active but remain committed to the former liberation movement. They
however do not get involved in the daily conundrums of party campaigning or
organising. Instead they generally rely on themselves and the qualifications
that they acquired either via post independence education or businesses that
they established.
You will find them in offices of private corporations, in
mining or even commercial agriculture predating the fast track land reform
programme. They will however
occasionally defend Zanu Pf in social conversations, and politely so. What they
do insist on is that they continue to get their pensions and that the scholarships
offered their children are duly fulfilled by the state.
The third strand of war veterans are those that have
actively taken up opposition politics. These are in the minority of war
veterans. They offer counter narratives
as to how the liberation war was fought
and how they never intended, as liberation fighters to have one party rule the country
for so long. These war veterans have actively
supported major opposition parties and in some cases sought form their own as some
did with Mavambo in 2008. Their
political aspirations aside, these war veterans do not directly benefit from
the state and are generally not keen on enjoying the pensions and other
benefits that come with war veteran status.
In all of the aforementioned groups of war veterans it is
increasingly apparent that in part the general tendency amongst them is that they
are fully cognisant of their political importance. Some utilise these reputations and
history for direct political benefit .
Others are a bit more circumspect about the politics but all the same
rely on the state for some of their basic needs, which include pensions and
other benefits such as school fees for their children. Others still have abandoned the state largess
to attempt direct involvement in opposition politics.
In every respect however, these groups of war veterans can
be viewed as a generation that has come full circle in relation to its
political importance in Zimbabwe. And
they appear to be at the height of their influence on the direction that national
politics takes. Not just by way of campaigning
for the ruling party but also by being in key positions either in government, parliament,
the civil service or the security services.
While the nationalists remain in overall
charge of government, its mechanics are increasingly in the hands of war
veterans. Or at least those who were either at the front of the liberation war
or in the training camps. And they will definitely be key in determining who succeeds President Mugabe.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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