Mugabe ignoring many war veterans, says Zapu

Peta Thornycroft

MANY war heroes are ignored by President Robert Mugabe according to Zapu, the liberation movement which first went to war against white-ruled Rhodesia.

At the unveiling of a tombstone for Philemon Mabuza, one of the first to engage Rhodesian forces in the liberation war, Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa said many war heroes who should have been buried at the national shrine in Harare were ignored by Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party. Mabuza died two years ago and was buried at the Bulawayo city council-owned Lady Stanley Cemetery.

“The timing of the commemoration of Philemon Mabuza is very symbolic because Zimbabwe is observing the national Heroes’ Day,” Dabengwa told mourners at the cemetery earlier this week.

“It is indeed important for countries to remember and honour those who have rendered distinguished service to the motherland. But it is easy to devalue the true meaning of ‘heroes’ when the criteria for official designation as a hero are not uniformly applied.”

Among others ignored by Mugabe was former military leader Lookout Masuku, who died in detention in a Harare hospital in 1986. He and Dabengwa and other Zapu leaders spent years in detention after independence in 1980.

At the tombstone ceremony, Dabengwa noted other heroes of the war who were ignored for burial at the national shrine, Richard Dube, Amos Ngwenya and Masuku. “They could not pass the test of political correctness of the Zanu-PF establishment who define heroism by loyalty to a current political leadership,” said Dabengwa.

He also referred to five veterans of the liberation war who were arrested last month after a critique of Mugabe was released by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association. The statement criticised Mugabe as a divisive ruler and said veterans would not support him in the next elections in 2018. – Independent Foreign Service