The Zimbabwe Liberators’ Peace Forum (ZLPF) has said the inclusive government should appoint a minister to represent their interests.
The organisation was also demanding parliamentary seats to allow the ZLPF to monitor the relevance of debates in the House of Assembly in defending the gains of the liberation struggle.
In an interview with NewsDay, ZLPF spokesperson Max Mkandla said: “We are different from other organisations in the country. We are demanding to represent ourselves in Parliament or have a minister who deals with the maintenance of the aims and objectives of the armed struggle to represent us in cabinet.
“This minister will represent nothing short of the Zimbabwean military war veterans. Our aims and objectives of the armed struggle are not yet fulfilled and we have been overlooked for many years.
“With this so-called government of national unity, we are overlooked even worse.”
Mkandla said there was no point in the government taking chiefs into Parliament when war veterans did not have representation.
“The military war veterans are the very people who should shape the country to stick to the aims and objectives of the armed struggle. They cannot do that outside Parliament since laws are, actually passed in Parliament,” he said.
He said a representative in Parliament would pressure the government into improving the welfare of war veterans who were demanding at least $18 000 gratuities.
