Mugabe must heed war vets’ stern message

Zimbabwe’s liberation war fighters, Zanu PF’s foot soldiers for the last three decades, are increasingly demonstrating their independence from the political leadership after openly criticising the way their party is being run at a no-holds-barred meeting with President Robert Mugabe on Thursday.

The war veterans rattled off a list of demands (some good, but others for self-aggrandisement as usual) and, in the same breath, set the stage for the 2018 presidential elections where they are likely to use the demands as some kind of carrot and stick approach to get Mugabe to play ball.

Should Mugabe fail to meet some of the demands, then the ex-combatants might use their numbers to withhold their crucial vote in the elections.

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