Zimbabwe war veterans’ spokesman arrested

HARARE: Police have arrested a leader of Zimbabwe’s war veterans’ association after it accused President Robert Mugabe of "dictatorial" behaviour in a shock rupture with the veteran leader, lawyers said on Thursday.

Veterans of Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war, who had previously been loyal Mugabe supporters, issued a statement bitterly denouncing the president, 92, who faces growing signs of opposition.

Douglas Mahiya, spokesman for the War Veterans’ Association, was arrested late on Wednesday in Harare, according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) group. "Information presently at hand is that the police are charging him with subverting a constitutional government and insulting the office of the president," the lawyers said. A Mahiya family lawyer confirmed the arrest to AFP, but declined to comment further.

The association’s secretary-general, Victor Matemadanda, was also taken from his rural home in Gokwe, north west Zimbabwe, after being summoned for police questioning.

"His whereabouts are currently undetermined, as are the charges or allegations against him," ZLHR said.

Recent demonstrations, the largest in several years in Zimbabwe, have been triggered by an economic crisis that has left banks short of cash and the government struggling to pay its workers.

More than 90 percent of the population is not in formal employment after years of economic decline under Mugabe’s rule.

Police on Thursday declined to comment on the two cases, a day after the president vowed to punish the unnamed authors of the war veterans’ criticisms.

"When we find out who the people were, the party will discipline them. The punishment will be severe," Mugabe said in a speech to supporters outside the Harare headquarters of the ruling ZANU-PF party.

In a sharp change of stance, the liberation war fighters last week vowed not to support Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, if he sought re-election in 2018.

Starting in 2002, the war veterans led the seizures of white-owned commercial farms, in what Mugabe said was a reversal of imbalances from the colonial era.

Some veterans have also been accused of the widespread intimidation and violence during past elections that have kept Mugabe in office. Mugabe on Wednesday issued a direct threat to Pastor Evan Mawarire, who emerged as leader of the new "ThisFlag" protest movement against the authoritarian government.

"We know how to deal with our enemies who have been trying to bring about regime change," Mugabe said, referring by name to Mawarire, who is currently in neighbouring South Africa.

Earlier this month, many offices, shops and some government departments were closed for a one-day strike over the economic crisis that has been worsened by a severe drought.