As part of a national convergence strategy pro democracy actors are joining forces to remove President Robert Mugabe from power.
Zimbabweans have suffered from decades of Mugabe’s misrule but have always been defeated because of scattered and uncoordinated efforts to remove him from power, even through the ballot box. Mugabe has also been a master at divide and rule, but this time round is faced with strong opposition from within Zanu PF and the nation at large.
Events are moving fast towards Mugabe’s end, after restless war veterans, who have been a key pillar of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in April 1980, have signaled that they may now be ready to embrace the country’s much-maligned opposition, after meeting with leaders of radical pressure group Tajamuka/Sesijikile last week.
Well-placed sources within Tajamuka/Sesijikile and the leadership of the former freedom fighters confirmed to the Daily News yesterday that they had “happily” met for lunch last week, even as both parties also attempted to dampen expectations by claiming that this had all been “unplanned”.
The meeting comes as Tajamuka/Sesijikile has filed a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court, seeking to have Mugabe removed from office on charges of gross human rights violations.
While analysts who spoke to the Daily News last night said there was “nothing amiss” in the two parties meeting, they agreed that it would have been “unthinkable” just a few weeks ago that war veterans could meet with people seeking to end Mugabe’s long rule.
A cagey Tajamuka/Sesijikile spokesperson, Promise Mkwananzi, said the lunch they had with the war veterans was “no big deal”.
“We don’t choose whom we meet with, as long as they are agreeable to the idea that Mugabe must resign urgently and immediately to give our country a new impetus.
“And yes, we have unprecedented developments with Zanu PF which is splitting, and war veterans are finally playing their custodian role, and the opposition forces seeming to be coming together again as well.
“Importantly, we have the steady rise of citizens’ movements and voices such as Tajamuka and others coming through,” Mkwananzi told the Daily News.
Tajamuka, apart from filing a constitutional application seeking to have Mugabe leave office immediately, are also planning fresh mass protests beginning September, if the nonagenarian does not step down by the end of August.
Last month, Tajamuka and activist cleric Evan Mawarire jointly organised a successful stay-away which was heeded by thousands of struggling workers who shut down the country in protest at Zimbabwe’s deepening economic rot, that is widely blamed on Mugabe and Zanu PF.
Mugabe and Zanu PF were last month stung by the war veterans who issued a stinging communiqué in which they ended their long relationship with the nonagenarian that stretches back to the days of the country’s liberation struggle.
Tellingly, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA’) secretary-general, Victor Matemadanda, who was among those arrested in the aftermath of their fallout with Mugabe, defended the lunch with Tajamuka yesterday.
“We met and we had lunch with Promise from Tajamuka. There was no plan to meet though but it was good that we met. We discussed as vana veZimbabwe (children of Zimbabwe). We do not have a problem with the likes of Promise. You only get to know these people when you get close to them and we also agree with what they are fighting for,” he said.
“Zimbabwe needs this coming together of different forces and generations to deal with Mugabe and Zanu PF’s errant rule,” said civic leader McDonald Lewanika.
“This convergence is of paramount importance and will bode well for those opposed to Mugabe and especially for the war vets who need to re-establish themselves as the champions of freedom and a just and equitable Zimbabwe, in the same altruistic fashion that made them take up arms at the risk of death.
“So it is a positive development and one hopes the vets do not look back or succumb to Zanu PF co-option as happened in the past,” he added.
Civic society leaders, opposition parties, the church and Tajamuka turned out in big numbers during the bail hearings of the leadership of war veterans, including Matemadanda and ZNLWVA spokesperson Douglas Mahiya — when they appeared in court recently over charges of undermining and insulting Mugabe.
Political watchers said the budding solidarity between war vets and the opposition was significant and showed a convergence of ideas among all citizens.
War veterans have been one of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s strongest pillars of support over the past five decades, playing particularly significant roles to keep the nonagenarian in power in the hotly-disputed 2000 and 2008 elections which were both marred by serious violence and the murder of hundreds of opposition supporters.
But the ex-combatants served Mugabe with divorce papers last month after growing disillusioned with the country’s worsening rot.
Addressing a hastily-convened meeting of Zanu PF supporters at the ruling party’s Harare headquarters last month, Mugabe warned the disaffected war veterans that they would be dealt with severely, including through the use of extra-judicial suppression methods that his former liberation movement incorporated during the country’s independence war in the 1970s — such as incarcerating dissenters in inhuman dungeons where they were forced to live like caged rats.
After his address, police launched a crackdown against the war vets leadership and arrested five officials, including Matemadanda and Mahiya, both of whom are currently out on bail.
Matemadanda has also told the Daily News that his life may now be in danger as some people have been monitoring his movements, while some Zanu PF yobs have invaded his Karoi farm.
“My life is in danger; they have gone a gear up. They have deployed youths to my farm. I have made a police report but the police claim that they cannot remove the youths because they were told not to use force,” Matemadanda said.
Well-placed sources within the war veterans movement have also told the Daily News that preparations are already underway for a “one million-man march to show Mugabe that he cannot just wish us away and we have the capacity to mobilise”.
“We are going to organise a march that will show the world that we are the power of Zanu PF. We want to side with the people because they have suffered enough and are tired of what the leadership has been doing.
18 Replies to “#MugabeMustFall : Tajamuka, War Vets Join Forces To Remove Mugabe”
Comments are closed.
I proposed a model. You proposed one. Mine and yours are not cut in stone. Someone else can propose another model. What is needed is discussion on these emotive issues so that as a country we adopt what benefits all Zimbabweans. You insinuate that there are dominant regional languages. Granted that could be true, but a Ndebele, Sotho or Shona who migrates to another region has every right to maintain his/her language. What is wrong if policies that guarantee this are put in place? You give an impression that there will be resource constraints to teach African languages across the whole country. We cannot jump to this conclusion before feasibility studies are conducted. Zimbabwe is poor today because of mismanagement. It has the potential to grow its GDP to phenomenal levels. All the ingredients are there. Just imagine the developmental miracle that will happen if we were to recover the missing $15 billion! South Africans have their ways of dispensing services but they are not necessarily a perfect model for Zimbabwe. They still have and will always have a lot to learn. We cannot suppress any language regardless of how minute the number of its first speakers is. I have interacted with many citizens from the southern provinces who feel that their languages are overshadowed by Ndebele, yet Ndebeles complain of Shona hegemony. it is not good to practise double standards. Zimbabweans of all language and cultural backgrounds must be equal, not just as per the constitution, but in practice.
I proposed a model. You proposed one. Mine and yours are not cut in stone. Someone else can propose another model. What is needed is discussion on these emotive issues so that as a country we adopt what benefits all Zimbabweans. You insinuate that there are dominant regional languages. Granted that could be true, but a Ndebele, Sotho or Shona who migrates to another region has every right to maintain his/her language. What is wrong if policies that guarantee this are put in place? You give an impression that there will be resource constraints to teach African languages across the whole country. We cannot jump to this conclusion before feasibility studies are conducted. Zimbabwe is poor today because of mismanagement. It has the potential to grow its GDP to phenomenal levels. All the ingredients are there. Just imagine the developmental miracle that will happen if we were to recover the missing $15 billion! South Africans have their ways of dispensing services but they are not necessarily a perfect model for Zimbabwe. They still have and will always have a lot to learn. We cannot suppress any language regardless of how minute the number of its first speakers is. I have interacted with many citizens from the southern provinces who feel that their languages are overshadowed by Ndebele, yet Ndebeles complain of Shona hegemony. it is not good to practise double standards. Zimbabweans of all language and cultural backgrounds must be equal, not just as per the constitution, but in practice.
People demanding such changes; which people? The problem is with the so called democrats like Tswangirayi. They copy everything Mugabe introduced in Zimbabwe in 1980. Yet when they grew up, they know very well Rhodesia was never like that in as far as the black African population was concerned.
I also totally disagree with the idea of compulsorily teaching Ndebele and Shona across the country.It will only favour the dominant languages; as there will be a shortage of teachers and other resources to cover the whole country.
Again, it will never be practically possible in the first place owing to the unequal population ratios of the different language communities and the number of languages that the Constitution officially recognises – a total of 16; if I am not mistaken.
We have to always bear in mind that a language is a human right, just like the right to associate or disassociate or even make friends. It should never be a numbers game. Human rights by their very nature have nothing to do with numbers. Even only two people remained in this world speaking a particular language; they too have a right to speak it without let or hindrance. Only God can stop them.
Therefore; I believe we need to follow the South African system of official provincial languages. Whilst they have 11 official languages recognised by the constitution at the national level. They have them provincialised to make them easy to manage and ensure their equal treatment at a more practical level.
People should not be allowed to move from one province to another, each time demanding to be taught or spoken to in their mother tongues at school or government offices and other public spaces such as Churches. The principle should always be “when in Rome do as the Romans do”
Zimbabweans must learn to respect each other, their diverse cultures and languages wherever they are and integrate with the people in whose areas they have chosen to live.
For instance Midlands could provincially recognise Karanga, Ndebele and English only. Mashonaland could be English and Zezuru only. Manicaland could be Manyika, Ndau and English only. Masvingo could be Karanga, Shangani and English only and Matebeleland South could be Khalanga, Ndebele, Venda, Sotho and English only. Matebeleland North would then be Nambya, Khalanga, Tonga, Ndebele and English only. This principle could further be applied at district level, thus retaining the dominant language in each district and gradually eliminating the less dominant languages.
So any Zimbabwean who relocates to any of these provinces will have to make sure they learn the local provincial languages and not demand that their children be taught in their mother tongues.
Their language choices will be limited only to the province’s languages. This is the best formula that could equally satisfy evey community in Zimbabwe. After all people move around the country by choice in most cases isnt it?
In SA, you cant as a Xhosa relocate from the Eastern Cape to, say Limpopo and then demand isiXhosa right up there in Limpopo in the North. They will certainly think you are being funny. You wont find Xhosa anywhere in Limpopo.
Your choices would be limited to Limpopo’s official provincial languages of Venda, Afrikaans, English, Pedi, and Tsonga/Shangaan only!!
People demanding such changes; which people? The problem is with the so called democrats like Tswangirayi. They copy everything Mugabe introduced in Zimbabwe in 1980. Yet when they grew up, they know very well Rhodesia was never like that in as far as the black African population was concerned.
I also totally disagree with the idea of compulsorily teaching Ndebele and Shona across the country.It will only favour the dominant languages; as there will be a shortage of teachers and other resources to cover the whole country.
Again, it will never be practically possible in the first place owing to the unequal population ratios of the different language communities and the number of languages that the Constitution officially recognises – a total of 16; if I am not mistaken.
We have to always bear in mind that a language is a human right, just like the right to associate or disassociate or even make friends. It should never be a numbers game. Human rights by their very nature have nothing to do with numbers. Even only two people remained in this world speaking a particular language; they too have a right to speak it without let or hindrance. Only God can stop them.
Therefore; I believe we need to follow the South African system of official provincial languages. Whilst they have 11 official languages recognised by the constitution at the national level. They have them provincialised to make them easy to manage and ensure their equal treatment at a more practical level.
People should not be allowed to move from one province to another, each time demanding to be taught or spoken to in their mother tongues at school or government offices and other public spaces such as Churches. The principle should always be “when in Rome do as the Romans do”
Zimbabweans must learn to respect each other, their diverse cultures and languages wherever they are and integrate with the people in whose areas they have chosen to live.
For instance Midlands could provincially recognise Karanga, Ndebele and English only. Mashonaland could be English and Zezuru only. Manicaland could be Manyika, Ndau and English only. Masvingo could be Karanga, Shangani and English only and Matebeleland South could be Khalanga, Ndebele, Venda, Sotho and English only. Matebeleland North would then be Nambya, Khalanga, Tonga, Ndebele and English only. This principle could further be applied at district level, thus retaining the dominant language in each district and gradually eliminating the less dominant languages.
So any Zimbabwean who relocates to any of these provinces will have to make sure they learn the local provincial languages and not demand that their children be taught in their mother tongues.
Their language choices will be limited only to the province’s languages. This is the best formula that could equally satisfy evey community in Zimbabwe. After all people move around the country by choice in most cases isnt it?
In SA, you cant as a Xhosa relocate from the Eastern Cape to, say Limpopo and then demand isiXhosa right up there in Limpopo in the North. They will certainly think you are being funny. You wont find Xhosa anywhere in Limpopo.
Your choices would be limited to Limpopo’s official provincial languages of Venda, Afrikaans, English, Pedi, and Tsonga/Shangaan only!!
This is a typical Republican Party vs Donald Trump scenario. Ditch the bastards. Fuck them too. You see in a revolution bastards deserve what they get and truly, they always lose especially when they are dictators. Dictators always use the same rules and methodologies. But they always fall always. Mugabe wamama not only through mhata but nemukanwa
Promise is young. Besides he is not alone in that organisation. It is the adults who are the problem in Zimbabwe – its them who have taugh the post 1980 children wrong and dicriminatory practices. Children’s minds are always innocent until they are poisoned bh adults. In Zimbabwe, people like Mugabe, Tswangirayi and Makoni. We know Mugabe already he started it all. Tswangirayi copied with Chinja/Guqula and then Makoni with his Mavambo Kusile. When will it be Kusile Mavambo?
Promise is young. Besides he is not alone in that organisation. It is the adults who are the problem in Zimbabwe – its them who have taugh the post 1980 children wrong and dicriminatory practices. Children’s minds are always innocent until they are poisoned bh adults. In Zimbabwe, people like Mugabe, Tswangirayi and Makoni. We know Mugabe already he started it all. Tswangirayi copied with Chinja/Guqula and then Makoni with his Mavambo Kusile. When will it be Kusile Mavambo?
I note your concern. These are the changes that people should demand in a new Zimbabwe. The present system cannot do this because it survives on divide and rule. Zimbabweans have been divided along tribal and racial lines for a very long time, before and after 1980. When the country achieves true independence we need to deracialise and detribalise our institutions and lives. We should tell new leaders what we want and if they refuse we show them the door. To unite Zimbabweans all languages and cultures must be given equal recognition. No language and culture is superior to others. Children in school should be given a choice to learn an African language of their choice. The present system proposed the idea of teaching Ndebele and Shona in all corners of the country a long time ago. But this policy could not be implemented because people would find common ground and unite against the system. However, its days are numbered. A truly independent and united Zimbabwe is on the horizon.
I note your concern. These are the changes that people should demand in a new Zimbabwe. The present system cannot do this because it survives on divide and rule. Zimbabweans have been divided along tribal and racial lines for a very long time, before and after 1980. When the country achieves true independence we need to deracialise and detribalise our institutions and lives. We should tell new leaders what we want and if they refuse we show them the door. To unite Zimbabweans all languages and cultures must be given equal recognition. No language and culture is superior to others. Children in school should be given a choice to learn an African language of their choice. The present system proposed the idea of teaching Ndebele and Shona in all corners of the country a long time ago. But this policy could not be implemented because people would find common ground and unite against the system. However, its days are numbered. A truly independent and united Zimbabwe is on the horizon.
Ask Promise that.
Ask Promise that.
First Zimbabwe needs to be tamed and civilised and cultivated, then many millions of our Chinese people will come settle there, and make it their home. There will be beautiful modern cities and towns; homes, gardens, parks, towering blocks of offices and flats; factories, railways and airports.
First Zimbabwe needs to be tamed and civilised and cultivated, then many millions of our Chinese people will come settle there, and make it their home. There will be beautiful modern cities and towns; homes, gardens, parks, towering blocks of offices and flats; factories, railways and airports.
Kana jongwe rokweviwa rinoti kudii? Remember these stupid idiots beat us and killed some of our brothers,sisters,mothers, fathers (you name it) for the sake of Mugabe. So many people were killed for crimes they did not committ even during the liberation struggle. Now the time has come to pay up and some people now want to jump ship. Have you forgotten that you said you were not going to leave State House even if you lose elections. Remember how Mobutu Seseseko vanished from this planet. Where is he now? Did he go with all the riches he had amassed when his fellow countrymen were suffering. We are in the second half of the game and this time there is no extra time or runoff. Where shall you hide when yhunder and lightning strikes?.
Kana jongwe rokweviwa rinoti kudii? Remember these stupid idiots beat us and killed some of our brothers,sisters,mothers, fathers (you name it) for the sake of Mugabe. So many people were killed for crimes they did not committ even during the liberation struggle. Now the time has come to pay up and some people now want to jump ship. Have you forgotten that you said you were not going to leave State House even if you lose elections. Remember how Mobutu Seseseko vanished from this planet. Where is he now? Did he go with all the riches he had amassed when his fellow countrymen were suffering. We are in the second half of the game and this time there is no extra time or runoff. Where shall you hide when yhunder and lightning strikes?.
Typical. Why is it always Tajamuka/Sesijikile? Why cant it also be Sesijikile/Tajamuka in that order, to indicate equality of all in Zimbabwe? Even in the so called democratic MDC-T opposition – its also the typical ZANU PF packing order of languages Chinja/Guqula and never Guqula/Chinja?
And by the way – when will we see the state start to use Khalanga, Sotho, Xhosa, Nambya, Setswana, Tonga as the constitution requires?
Eish – Zimbabwe; a really funny country indeed. A country where people demand rights only for themselves – and never for others!!
Typical. Why is it always Tajamuka/Sesijikile? Why cant it also be Sesijikile/Tajamuka in that order, to indicate equality of all in Zimbabwe? Even in the so called democratic MDC-T opposition – its also the typical ZANU PF packing order of languages Chinja/Guqula and never Guqula/Chinja?
And by the way – when will we see the state start to use Khalanga, Sotho, Xhosa, Nambya, Setswana, Tonga as the constitution requires?
Eish – Zimbabwe; a really funny country indeed. A country where people demand rights only for themselves – and never for others!!
Remember cde you invaded the farm now the way you violently took it from the owner who had title deeds over the property they way they are taking it from you. I remember when Dabengwa advocated for orderly distribution of the land the likes of you rubbished him. Receive the bitter taste of your own medicine cde. Those who live by the sword die by the sword umzenzi kakhalelwa baba.