Video: War veterans arrested for protesting for better pension
Protesting war veterans
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has arrested more than 20 war veterans who were protesting in Harare against poor pension earnings.
The liberation war fighters were part of dozens of other war veterans who were demonstrating at Africa Unity Square on Tuesday.
In August this year, nine former liberation war combatants were arrested after staging a protest at the offices of the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube, demanding an upward review of their earnings.
They were released without charge.
Tuesday’s protests coincide with major ZANU PF activities that include the conference and campaigns for the removal of sanctions against the country.
Some ZANU PF officials told The Standard recently that the protests were part of a strategy by a faction led by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga meant to remove President Emmerson Mnangagwa from power.
War veterans have been instrumental in local politics with the ruling party deploying them across the country to mobilise the citizenry to vote for the former revolutionary party.
They were also instrumental in the ouster of the late founding leader of Zimbabwe, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, as they launched a series of protests that were met by state brutality that in turn made Mugabe more unpopular.
The veterans of the 1970s war were in 1997 given Z$50 000 in gratuities each by President Robert Mugabe’s government after embarking on a series of protests.
The unbudgeted payouts that amounted to $2 000 saw the Zimbabwe dollar losing its value by 70 per cent in one day and analysts say the move signalled Zimbabwe’s well documented economic collapse.
Nevertheless, the ageing veterans argue that the government was meant to have paid them Z$500 000 each in 1997 but up to date they have not received the balance.
Apart from money, they want mining concessions.
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