Monday, June 06, 2005

Then they came for the war veterans....

Now the war veterans are in the sites of the gov't...there are the ones that were supposed to benefit from the confiscated white farm lands...

The campaign, with Mugabe's approval, marked a turning point for the war veterans who played a key role in fending off the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) challenge to Mugabe in the last few years.

Now with Mugabe firmly in charge after a disputed election last March, he has ditched the war veterans in a stunning development.

Over the last five years, the informal settlement at Whitecliff, was eulogised in government circles as a vision of hope for the black majority. But on what used to be sprawling housing structures, now lay debris of shattered dreams.....

War veterans, deemed untouchable, formed a key cog in ZANU PF's violent election campaigns during past polls. The war veterans were allowed to settle on the farms near urban areas in what critics said was an attempt by the government to neutralise the MDC’s urban support base.

Tarumbwa’s equally dejected neighbour who only gave his name as Mabhunu said: “Base commanders (war veteran leaders in charge of the land invasions) made us pay large sums of money on different occasions to acquire the "stands".

“I’m sure altogether we each paid up to $7 million. We were taken for a ride. Now we have no one to turn to.”........



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