DIVISIONS in the war veterans association deepened over the weekend with a faction linked to former deputy chairman Joseph Chinotimba boycotting the organisation’s congress which was held in Bindura.
The congress, which had remained uncertain over the last couple of weeks, retained Jabulani Sibanda as national chairman with Cosmos Gonese of Masvingo province coming in as his deputy.
Chinotimba’s faction claimed last week that Sibanda had been sacked from the association adding eleven of the sixteen member executive team had quit the national executive in a move aimed at pre-empting the weekend congress.
The fiery Chinotimba also warned Sibanda against holding the congress.
“We have resigned from Jabu’s executive, but we have not resigned from the association. We can’t have a kitchen cabinet in the association.
“When we said we had fired Jabu, we were not joking. There must be an interim to organise the election. If he goes ahead with the elections, he will be in for it,” Chinotimba said.
However the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper reports that the congress went ahead without incident.
“We will make sure that the ideals of the liberation struggle, which are freedom and sovereignty, are defended from colonial aggression and that the stability brought about by the revolution is preserved,” Sibanda was quoted as saying after claiming his renewed mandate.
Chinotimba is yet to comment on the weekend meeting.
The war veterans continue to defy a call by their patron President Robert Mugabe to desist from squabbles and choose a new leadership at a properly constituted congress.
Divisions in the association mirror the factional lines in the Zanu PF party which is struggling to manage Mugabe’s succession issue.
The war veterans, a key Zanu PF constituency, are reportedly taking sides between rival party factions led by defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and vice president Joyce Mujuru as the battle to succeed the ageing Mugabe threatens to get out of hand.