DEFENCE minister Sydney Sekeramayi and War Veterans ministry permanent secretary, Asher Walter Tapfumaneyi have embarked on a campaign to destabilise the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA), court papers before the High Court claim.
BY RICHARD CHIDZA
This is contained in an urgent chamber application filed early this week by ZNLWVA chairperson, Christopher Mutsvangwa, seeking an interdict order barring Sekeramayi and Tapfumaneyi from convening an elective congress to choose new leadership for the association.
“The applicant is administered by a national executive committee consisting of 12 members duly elected and appointed in terms of applicant’s constitution.
“Eligibility for leadership is not based on political affiliation of a member, but is open to any member of the applicant,” Mutsvangwa said in his application for an interdict order against the holding of an elective congress to elect a new executive for the association.
“In recent times, applicant has been subjected to undue political influence and manipulation in its activities and administration by Zanu PF.
“In the process, applicant has been made to appear as if it were an extension of Zanu PF and an exclusive domain of Zanu PF members.”
Mutsvangwa said ZNLWVA obtained an interdict against “some members of the applicant” (Mandi Chimene and George Mlala) from masquerading as the leaders of the association.
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He said Sekeramayi, in his address to a Zanu PF youth league interface rally in Bindura two weeks ago, had indicated that the ZNLWVA was “inextricably entangled with Zanu PF and, thus, could not be led by its members who have been expelled”.
“Those targeted included myself (Mutsvangwa), Victor Matemadanda, Douglas Mahiya, Headman Moyo and (Francis) Nhando,” Mutsvangwa said.
“The purging process of expelling non-Zanu PF members from the applicant’s national leadership has been given a 90-day ultimatum.”
The former Cabinet minister and his colleagues were expelled from Zanu PF following the publication of a damning communiqué released by the war veterans in July 2016, where they described President Robert Mugabe, as a genocidal and manipulative leader, who had used foul means to retain power and rid the party of his political adversaries.
Matemadanda, Mahiya and Moyo were then dragged before the courts, charged with undermining Mugabe’s authority.
Mutsvangwa said Tapfumaneyi and Sekeramayi were acting against the law and had undermined his right to political affiliation, freedom of association and self-determination as enshrined in the Constitution.
“The imminence of the unlawful elective congress being pursued by the respondents as detailed, herein, has progressed from being merely apprehended by applicant to being a grim foreboded reality,” he said.
“If this meeting should proceed, applicant would degenerate into pandemonium and lawlessness. There is no other way to ensure that applicant’s constitution and proper lawful administration is preserved.
“It is this imminent scourge that has resulted in the need to bring this urgent application.”
