ZIMBABWE’S liberation war veterans have delivered a message the government can no longer afford to ignore: they want real empowerment, not charity disguised as recognition.
At a meeting in Bulawayo, veterans dismissed bicycle donations and food hampers as insulting substitutes for meaningful support. To them, dignity cannot be reduced to parcels of food and symbolic gestures.
At the heart of their anger lies an unresolved historical contract. War veterans argue that they did not fight merely for political independence, but for land, economic ownership and a secure future. Decades later, many believe that promise has been diluted into rhetoric and stalled delivery.
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association chairperson Ethan Mathibela said the government must take full responsibility for war veterans’ affairs instead of leaving their welfare to individuals and political patronage networks.
To many veterans, the State appears to have abdicated its role, reducing liberation fighters to welfare dependants rather than recognising them as economic stakeholders.
Allies of President Emmerson Mnangagwa have stepped in with donations of bicycles and food hampers. But the veterans’ message is simple: they do not want fish — they want fishing rods.
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Relations between the government and war veterans have long been strained over welfare and empowerment issues. Many former fighters believe they are getting the short end of the stick despite their central role in securing Zimbabwe’s independence.
Their frustration is deepened by the perception that a politically connected few are thriving on lucrative government contracts while many veterans remain economically marginalised.
There is also a striking paradox. War veterans were at the forefront of farm occupations that forced the government to implement the Fast Track Land Reform Programme. Yet many of the same veterans are still battling for secure land tenure.
The government’s latest proposal — offering land to war veterans’ families at between US$1,17 and US$10 per hectare for plots ranging from six to 10 hectares — has done little to calm tensions.
Mathibela insists war veterans want land without strings attached.
This demand reflects a deeper grievance: that redistribution has often been slow, uneven and lacking transparency.
The government argues that it is doing its best to cater to war veterans’ welfare despite tight fiscal constraints. But that is precisely where the fault line lies.
The State is offering limited welfare within budget constraints, while veterans are demanding restitution through economic inclusion. The two are not the same — and conflating them only deepens frustration.
When liberation veterans feel excluded from the very State they helped to bring into being, it raises uncomfortable questions about the credibility of the empowerment policies the government continues to promote.
Empowerment should mean broad-based inclusion, not selective distribution.
If the government is serious about resolving this issue, it must move beyond symbolic gestures and fragmented interventions. What is required is a coherent empowerment strategy — one that ensures transparent land access, productive assets and meaningful participation in economic value chains.
Zimbabwe owes its liberation war veterans more than ceremonial respect and token donations.
It owes them economic dignity that matches their sacrifice — not handouts that reduce them to a charity case.