Restive war veterans will not relent on their campaign to have Saviour Kasukuwere ousted from his influential position as Zanu PF national political commissar, as the factional wars within the ruling Zanu PF party continue unabated.
Kasukuwere a member of the G-40 faction is accused of meddling with war veteran structures, particularly in Mashonaland Central province.
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association spokesperson, Douglas Mahiya recently told the media Kasukuwere had no business interfering with the ex-fighters’ structures.
“Tell the political commissar (Kasukuwere) to leave the duty of our structures to us. He must not leave his main duty of restructuring the party and maintaining structures in order to destabilise war veterans’ structures,” he said.
“We have no room for the political commissar to poke his nose into our business. He is not wanted. It is no secret that Kasukuwere is the leader of G40 in Mashonaland Central, hence, his intrusion into our structures. We have an existing structure led by Sam Parirenyatwa and that should be respected by all.”
Parirenyatwa concurred: “Kasukuwere is trying to destabilise the structures by funding a parallel group with links to (Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandi) Chimene. They have either prevented war veterans from attending government and party functions or not notified us of what is happening as is the norm.
“An example is the decision to have Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs minister Martin Dinha to represent the party in the upcoming Mazowe North by-election. They are claiming the directive came from the President, but we have gathered that they are using the President’s name in vain.”
G40 is a Zanu PF faction predominantly made up of the ruling party’s Young Turks in the ongoing factional struggles for power to take over from President Robert Mugabe. The group is reportedly fighting to stop Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa from succeeding President Robert Mugabe.
However, Kasukuwere scoffed at the accusations.
“They must leave me alone. I have not done such a thing,” he said.
Chimene could not be reached for comment, as she was said to be attending marathon meetings.
Following their meeting with Mugabe in April, war veterans have repeatedly called for Kasukuwere’s redeployment from Zanu PF’s commissariat department, claiming he was “politically premature” to hold such a post.
“We will continue to insist that Kasukuwere be removed as political commissar. He has failed and that is evidenced by the President having to descend on Masvingo to deal with Kasukuwere’s mess,” Mahiya said.
Mugabe was in Masvingo last week in a bid to douse factional flames engulfing the fractious province, with little success and he revealed he would be meeting warring groups at a date to be announced this tie in Harare. Newsday