By Staff Reporter

WAR veterans should be drafted into President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s security team, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) executive members have demanded.

They said only war veterans better understood the life and value of their leader and, as such, must be given duties to protect Mnangagwa.

The war veterans cited what they said was the breach of Mnangagwa’s security from the time he was appointed vice president. They cited the car accident, several break ins into his office and the cyanide incident, the ice cream poisoning and now the bomb blast as reasons to be given the duties to protect the president.

Mnangagwa escaped unhurt last weekend when a blast occurred at White City Stadium in Bulawayo at the end of his campaign rally where two people died with several other injured.  

“We will be able to employ the security principles that were impacted on us during the war of the liberation, that will secure our President said Douglas Mahiya ZNLWVA national spokesperson.

In an interview Wednesday at the War Veterans Ministry boardroom soon after their executive meeting, Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson, Sam Parerinyatwa, said people around Mnangagwa are “useless”.

“Our major concern is with our security sector; it would appear the people around the President are not competent enough or they seem to be serving other motives rather than protecting our President,” said Parirenyatwa.

“We are demanding as War Veterans, as stakeholders, men and women of clear credentials, men and women of tested tried credentials in as far as the security of our President is concerned around him.”

“We would rather prefer ourselves as War Veterans to be around the President rather than having the youngsters we see around the President who have proved to be incompetent.”  

He added, “The life of the President has been threatened a number of times and we seem not to be getting any explanations as to what is exactly behind the security lapse.”

Bulawayo provincial chairperson Cephas Ncube said the security of Mnangagwa should be provided by ruling party members.

“The security aides should be party members right up to government as we demand to know who is behind all this,” said Ncube.      

Douglas Mahiya, the national spokesperson, said they met and discussed issues on the political development in the country.

“The attack on President Mnangagwa is clear in our mind that the attack and other previous attacks is the work of the enemies of revolution,” he said.   

“But, however, we would like to express our disappointment with the organ which has the Constitutional mandate to provide forewarnings on these events before they happen in this era of terrorism.”

“It is disgraceful and embarrassing that those whose duty is to provide warnings did not do so.”   

Mahiya also disputed allegations that this may have been stage managed by the ruling party because they are afraid of losing the elections.

“That is madness; we cannot do that because there are no reasons enough to do that and there is nothing that that will achieve, how could it have been stage managed when people died?”