Zimbabwe National Liberation War veterans Association (ZNLWVA) association said they are the backbone of ZANU PF but remain a forgotten lot.
Addressing journalists in the capital recently, ZNLWVA spokesperson Douglas Mahiya said wars veterans remain poor as they do not get adequate care compared to their regional counterparts, despite being the foundation upon which ZANU PF is built.
“We as wars veterans remain poor as our party which is supposed to be taking care of us tends to neglect us all the time. If we compare war veterans in Zimbabwe and other regional countries, we see that we are very much neglected,” said Mahiya.
He revealed that despite engaging patron of the association, President Robert Mugabe, a few months ago, their concerns fell on deaf ears as the issues they raised remain unsolved.
“We met with our patron to iron out our differences and we agreed on certain things but to date nothing has changed.
“We agreed that our children’s fees would be paid but to date only one term’s fees has been paid while the other terms we have had to pay for ourselves.
“We also agreed that we would get a salary increment but nothing has been done as of now,” revealed Mahiya.
He went on to say the revolutionary party has not been playing its part in trying to respond to the needs of wars veterans despite them being the bedrock of ZNU PF.
“We are the bedrock of ZANU PF, as enshrined in the constitution of the country, and the ruling party should be seeing to it that we are well taken care of, but surprisingly we are forgotten and we remain the last priority.
We want a better life for ourselves and our children which is the main reason why we went to war. We did not go to war to remain poor. We are pleading with our patron to consider our plight,” added the association’s spokesperson.
