War Vets Never Killed Anyone Since 1980 – Mahiya
16 August 2016
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Gonda in explosive interview with Mahiya
Violent men who killed opposition supporters during all elections since 1980 were not war veterans, they falsely claimed so, War Vets Spokesman, Douglas Mahiya has said.

Violet Gonda |For years Zimbabwe’s former freedom fighters brought misery to the citizens, and were among the largest recipients of ZANU PF patronage. In a major twist, the war veterans’ association recently issued a statement denouncing President Robert Mugabe accusing him of having dictatorial tendencies and of destroying the country. The ZANU PF leadership retaliated ordering the arrest and suspension of several senior war veterans from the party. The latest stance by the war veterans has baffled many. Why has it taken the former freedom fighters so long to stand with the people? Have they really come to their senses or is the reason they are now ‘fighting’ the system the succession issue in ZANU PF rather than the national interest? Do they appreciate what Zimbabweans have been going through and will they apologise for the role they played in destroying the country? Journalist Violet Gonda brings you an in-depth interview with a leader of the  war veterans Douglas Mahiya, who was arrested last month following criticism of Mugabe.
Violet Gonda: Hello and welcome to the program Hot Seat, my name is Violet Gonda. In our 2nd  episode of this new series we talk to Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association spokesman Douglas Mahiya, who was arrested last week following the release of a damning communiqué which described President Robert Mugabe as a genocidal dictator and urged the 92 year old leader to leave office.
Thanks for joining us Mr. Mahiya. Now the war vets  association has been a major voting block for the ruling party but now you are being accused of undermining the authority of president Mugabe.. what can you say about this?
Douglas Mahiya: Violet you need to understand that the prefix-Cde – has been abused in this country by some people who have their own political ambitions. So some of the things that have been registered in the minds of the people and covered in the papers – that are not progressive were not committed by war veterans but by people who we see today protecting those interests that are negative to society. For example, the issue of corruption, the issues of bad governance. We have realized it is not proper for these people to call themselves comrades because they commit crimes against people in the name of comrades. So it’s not the real war veterans who did all those things that are registered by the people.
Gonda: So if that was the case why has it taken the  war veterans association  all this time to come out and stand with the people? Especially during the 2008 violence
Mahiya: Yes, I am happy that you mentioned the 2008 violence and this violence is attributed to the people who wanted to be called war veterans. They did a lot of atrocities in our name but they were not the real fighters. Yes it is true that we have taken so long (to speak out) but you have to understand Violet that ours was a revolution. It was a turning-about of a circle, to turn things around for the benefit of the people and what we did not have was  the political power, which we then got in 1980. And we needed to do these things gradually and couldn’t make changes one time. So it has taken a lot of time and we expected the people with power to deliver. But to date we discover that not much has been done.
Gonda: But Mr. Mahiya this sound hard to believe especially as the people behind these atrocities were said to be war veterans – such as the violence seen in the commercial farms and during election time, and also which people are you really talking about when you say they were not real war veterans?
Mahiya:  Ahh, let me take you back to the liberations struggle. There were people known as vana Mujiba and Chimbwidos. Those people behind the backs of the war veterans could do certain things that were contrary to the operations and regulations of the liberation struggle but still they called themselves war veterans. Let me also take you to the contemporary issue, so that you understand. The corrupt leadership in the government. The ZANU PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere has got a 50-roomed house and he calls himself a Comrade. If someone does not know Kasukuwere he will think those things are being done by war veterans. So people must understand this. Secondly, I don’t think it is important to dwell on the past – it is important to dwell on the future so that at the end of the day people will be able to achieve what they had long wanted to achieve.
GONDA: I think some people will disagree with you. It is important to talk about the past because we learn from this and not  be repeated in the future. There are also calls from many, like exiled judge of the High Court Justice Benjamin Paradza, who say you need to ‘publicly and sincerely apologise for the shameful roles your group  played in bringing misery to Zimbabweans over the years.’ What’s your response to this?
Mahiya: Well if people are more concerned about an apology than a progressive position that will save our people then that is quite different. As long as I am convinced that these things were done by people who were not war vets, or who went about calling themselves war veterans – such an apology will be done simply to be together with the masses. Because we know the majority of the masses and the international community in general are more important to us than the current leadership in the country.
Gonda: Would you say Mugabe or Emmerson Mnangagwa and Joyce Mujuru who have been part of this system are not war veterans?
Mahiya: Well Violet if you are talking about what those people did then those people are high profile members of the party and whatever they did against the people it is not …  or rather the war veterans is not answerable because they are not members of the association at all. Not all war veterans are members of the War Veterans Association. Those have been working and using the government and party apparatus, which we are not responsible of.
Gonda: There is a view that the reason you are now fighting the system is not because there is a governance problem but the fight is over succession… that the war vets’ common agenda about “Mugabe must go” is borne out of selfish interests and not out of national interests.
Mahiya: People must here it from the horse’s mouth. Let me give you this background. I am a son of a mother . I am a son of a peasant farmer. That is where I came from and since I went and came back nothing has changed in terms of their social, economic and political situation.
We are sons and daughters of society. Of the ordinary man that waged a struggle against the Smith regime and managed to grab political power which we thought was going to be used progressively for the benefit of that society and that did not happen. So the people who committed anything against society for the period you were talking about and the high profile people you were talking about – of course they are called comrades and they call themselves comrades but those people were not members of the association. They are members of the government.
Gonda: But Mr. Mahiya that is not what I am asking. How can you convince the masses who feel you are not there because you feel Zimbabweans are suffering but because of the succession issues in the ruling party?
Mahiya: People have to understand it when I say there is no better expression that I can give rather than explain exactly how we feel about it, exactly how we have analysed the situation, and identify the areas that are not proper for good governance. We cannot invent new expressions or words to be able to express.
Gonda: There is a general sentiment that you are aggrieved because the ZANU PF youths were given stands … that your sudden anti-Mugabe reaction is a response to the fact that you felt you were being sidelined in favour of the youths and the women?
Mahiya: War veterans are self reliant. We are against that idea. We are not worried about those residential stands because it’s not the end of the world. We are not worried about that but what we are worried about in that exercise – if ever the government wanted to do,  it was to make sure that land was made available and given to the local authorities for distribution through a legal waiting-list with the local government. But the government has decided to do it another way which we think is not progressive and is an example of bad governance. We are not worried about those stands and we do not need them.
Gonda: How true is that statement really, that you are self reliant.  When your critics say you are the largest recipients of ZANU PF patronage … that you have been given preferential treatment over the years – such as access to land and disability allowances.
Mahiya: For your own information when the land issue was done, it is true that the war veterans got land but that land as we speak is being withdrawn from the war veterans. So you must understand that the land imbalance that was there a long time ago was in the process of being addressed and in that process the masses and the war veterans were the target group. War vets also needed to make use of the land and  that was the reason that we took up arms to fight the oppressors.
Gonda: When you say the land is being taken away from your members, are you saying you have not benefitted from the land reform program?
Mahiya: I wish you had enough resources, my dear to come to Zimbabwe and make an assessment of what is happening. You would discover that not many war veterans benefitted as we anticipated.
Gonda: Can you give us figures. How many of you are there and how many were given land?
Mahiya: Of course I cannot give you the numbers right now but you can believe it from that statement  – that is the real position on the ground.
Gonda: In hindsight would it not have been better to advocate for a more conscious effort, such as fighting for a veterans hospital or veterans pension fund
Mahiya: ummmm the hospital issue and other benefits are issues that are enshrined in the war veterans’ Act or war veterans provisions. So that one is being implemented by government. However, this does not necessary mean that the hospitals will only be for war veterans alone but will benefit the society.
Gonda: Why is the government taking the land from the war veterans right now?
Mahiya: It’s because of the brand new character in ZANU PF – the Generation 40(G40), which is a new bad in that party. They don’t want to see the war veterans. They are the people spearheading this.
Gonda: There is a question that keeps coming up on the issue of sustenance… that is the issue of fees for war vets’ children still going to school…I understand the cash strapped government has to find at least $6million dollars a term to pay towards fees for war vets children… do u have figures of school kids that still need to be sustained?
Mahiya: You have to also understand that the war veterans as an association is a very poor organization and does not have the apparatus to capture information for information precision. But the children of war veterans that are school going today are the ones benefiting from the little amounts from the cash strapped government and this has only been done this year. All the other things have not been paid. It is supposed to be every term but there is no money for that and there is no money for treatment or for the burials. Nothing has been happening for a very long time now.

6 Replies to “War Vets Never Killed Anyone Since 1980 – Mahiya”

  1. Homeboy munenge makanganwa chezuro nehope. Makanganwa here reign of terror yaKitsi Yatota yakaurayisa so many opposition supporters? Makanganwa here firo yaChiminya yaipisa tsitsi paMurambinda? Handiti Kitsi Yatota anga aine hofisi yake paBuhera Offices pakanga pasina kana neaimusunga yet hapana mupurisa anga asingazivi humondi hwaaiita. Makanganwa here vanhu vaitorwa manheru vachinorohwa kumabase that were established specifically for that purpose? Makanganwa here mutumwa wenyu mukuru ainzi Mutororo akazofa obowa semombe? Rungano rwakanyorwa comrade. Tichataura kana nguva yakwana. Chatinokumbira hedu kuti mubvume kuti manga marasika. Ruzhinji runokuregererai.

  2. Homeboy munenge makanganwa chezuro nehope. Makanganwa here reign of terror yaKitsi Yatota yakaurayisa so many opposition supporters? Makanganwa here firo yaChiminya yaipisa tsitsi paMurambinda? Handiti Kitsi Yatota anga aine hofisi yake paBuhera Offices pakanga pasina kana neaimusunga yet hapana mupurisa anga asingazivi humondi hwaaiita. Makanganwa here vanhu vaitorwa manheru vachinorohwa kumabase that were established specifically for that purpose? Makanganwa here mutumwa wenyu mukuru ainzi Mutororo akazofa obowa semombe? Rungano rwakanyorwa comrade. Tichataura kana nguva yakwana. Chatinokumbira hedu kuti mubvume kuti manga marasika. Ruzhinji runokuregererai.

  3. Mfowethu is just being polite to say Mahiya is saying a lot of LABISHI. Mahiya is using his shrunken balls to talk and not his brain and mouth. He forgets their well calculated killing mission that was led by Chinos. You think you were butchering animals for consumption when you were killing those farm owners and the opposition members. I wish you could experience the same fate from your Zanu. I have no pity for you WHORE veterans

  4. Well this confirms that the war veterans have not changed one bit, they are the same self-seeking thugs they have been all these years.
    Mahiya has been a member of the war veterans for donkey years and was aware of how the
    war veterans have been Zanu PF’s storm troopers in the fight to deny the people a meaningful vote in the country to stop regime change. Mahiya has himself publicly said war veterans “were the stockholders of Zanu PF and Zimbabwe” and the rest of us are “stakeholders”; confirming the reality on the ground of war veterans having a veto on who ruled the country.
    These rogue war veterans have played their part in the establishment and retention of the Zanu PF dictatorship and were happy as long as they got their share of the spoils of power and wealth. They have only protested when their economic positions started to get worse.
    The least these rogue war veterans can do is apologize to the ordinary people whom they have abused in the name of stopping regime change. For Mahiya to deny they never abused anyone is an insult. It confirms that they would take up their storm trooper role again as soon as their share of the spoils is assured.
    After reading this nonsense; is MDC-T and ZimPF going to review their position as regards the war veterans; Chamisa and Mujuru were tripping over each other to embrace Mahiya a week
    ago! It goes to show just how shallow the two parties really are!

  5. Well this confirms that the war veterans have not changed one bit, they are the same self-seeking thugs they have been all these years.
    Mahiya has been a member of the war veterans for donkey years and was aware of how the
    war veterans have been Zanu PF’s storm troopers in the fight to deny the people a meaningful vote in the country to stop regime change. Mahiya has himself publicly said war veterans “were the stockholders of Zanu PF and Zimbabwe” and the rest of us are “stakeholders”; confirming the reality on the ground of war veterans having a veto on who ruled the country.
    These rogue war veterans have played their part in the establishment and retention of the Zanu PF dictatorship and were happy as long as they got their share of the spoils of power and wealth. They have only protested when their economic positions started to get worse.
    The least these rogue war veterans can do is apologize to the ordinary people whom they have abused in the name of stopping regime change. For Mahiya to deny they never abused anyone is an insult. It confirms that they would take up their storm trooper role again as soon as their share of the spoils is assured.
    After reading this nonsense; is MDC-T and ZimPF going to review their position as regards the war veterans; Chamisa and Mujuru were tripping over each other to embrace Mahiya a week
    ago! It goes to show just how shallow the two parties really are!

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