War veterans attack ‘beginning of the end’ for Mugabe: analysts

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s war veterans’ surprise attack on President Robert Mugabe signals the "beginning of the end" for the long-time leader, already buckling under pressure from a restive population angry over worsening economic woes.

In a rare public rebuke to the world’s oldest president, war veterans decried Mugabe’s "dictatorial tendencies" and vowed to withdrawal their support if he seeks re-election in 2018.

"This is the beginning of the end for Mugabe," said Takavafira Zhou, a political scientist from Masvingo State University.

"The war veterans have realised Mugabe is sinking and with him his regime. They don’t want to sink with the ship," said Zhou.

For decades, the war veterans who fought in the 1972-1979 war of independence have propped up Mugabe as the "heart and soul" and "foot soldiers" of the ruling Zanu-PF party, said analyst Charles Laurie of London-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.

But during a meeting last week, the war veterans said their relationship with Mugabe, 92, was seriously damaged.

"The relationship between us as war veterans and the president has broken down. He and the party do not like us anymore," the war veterans’ political commissar Francis Nhando said.

The ruling party this week launched a project to reward party loyalists with housing plots, but excluded war veterans who over the years were given first priority in party and government projects.

"We very angry with what the president is doing," Beta Guvheya, a war veteran, told AFP.

"There is no money in this country not because the country is poor... but we don’t have a manager," said Guvheya.

"That is the reason we are saying Mugabe must go. Mugabe is not going to win an election. No one is interested in Mugabe’s government now."