PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s planned meeting with the war veterans hangs in the balance owing to the lack of resources to fund the ongoing consultative meetings and the indaba.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
First scheduled for April, the indaba has constantly been postponed month after month, with War Veterans ministry secretary Walter Asher Tapfumaneyi saying it was being stalled by lack of resources.
“The consultative process has taken longer than anticipated… this is basically because of lack of resources which is being witnessed throughout the entire economy and the country,” he said.
Mugabe last met with the war veterans in 2016 for a three-hour indaba which blew about $2 million to discuss problems in Zanu PF and poverty levels among the liberators, among other issues.
Tapfumaneyi said the resources needed were not only for hosting the meeting, but also for implementing resolutions of the last indaba.
“We are taking stock of the resolutions of the last indaba as to what extent they have been implemented, but because of lack of resources that implementation has been slow,” he said.
Mugabe is currently on a whirlwind tour of the country meeting Zanu PF youths with thousands being bussed from far-flung areas to pay homage to the doddering 93-year-old. On the other hand, Mugabe’s relationship with the former fighters is at an all-time low with sharp disagreements over the Zanu PF leader’s decision to stand for re-election next year.
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The war veterans want Mugabe to hand over power and First Lady Grace Mugabe has also joined the bandwagon in recent weeks albeit with a different candidate in mind.
The War Veterans ministry was also supposed to fill the fissures within the war veterans and present a united front to Mugabe ahead of the crucial general elections in 2018, but divisions have continued to widen along Zanu PF factional lines.
Tapfumaneyi, however, said the divisions that continued to rock the war veterans would not affect the holding of the indaba.
“To us it’s not an issue, it has no effect on the hosting of the indaba,” he said.
War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube said this time around his ministry would cut down on the numbers of war veterans to attend the indaba to reduce accommodation costs.
