The newly elected leader of Zimbabwe’s National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Andrease Mathibela, expressed concerns about the welfare of ex-combatants, stating that it is worse than before President Mnangagwa rose to power in 2017.
Mathibela pledged to engage President Emmerson Mnangagwa on this issue. Mathibela criticised how the sacrifices made during Zimbabwe’s war for liberation were being disrespected, with only a few benefiting from the country’s wealth. He made these remarks while addressing former freedom fighters who lost their land in the Emmergroon estate, which was divided and allocated to ZANU PF’s youths. NewZimbabwe quotes him as saying:
The two main reasons why we went to war was to attain both political and economic freedoms. As war veterans, we are no longer respected. Our lives our now worse and at times you really ask yourself why you went to war?
The wealth of this country is being enjoyed by only a few people.
Our wish is to have farms with title deeds. War Veterans should not be villagers who stay in areas that were reserved for black people during the colonial era.
If they want to stay there, let it be by choice. We want all war veterans to at least own an A2 farm. We are planning to engage Mnangagwa over our welfare.
Mathibela said he had started a fact-finding mission to understand the cause of the conflict.
In 2001, the government assigned wildlife conservancies in the Emmergroon estate located along the Bulawayo – Victoria Falls highway to A1 farmers, including war veterans. These farmers were also given communal land for cattle grazing and smallholder farming. However, a dispute within the ruling party led to the allocation of the 140 plots to the youths by ZANU PF Provincial Chairperson Richard Moyo, who is also the Minister of State for Matabeleland North.