War veterans revoke Mgagao declaration

Scores of war veterans, who are believed to be affiliated to the new political outfit, Zimbabwe People First yesterday  announced that they were revoking the Mgagao declaration following Mugabe’s failure to govern the country.

The Mgagao declaration is described as Mugabe’s springboard into the Zanu leadership and signed by young military officers at the main Zanla training camp in Tanzania at the height of the liberation struggle in 1975.

Addressing media in the capital, war veterans who include ex-Zanla commander, Benard Manyadza (Parker Chipoyera), former top intelligence operative Retired Colonel Bastan Beta, Levy Gwarada and Ngoni Chitauro, among others, said they withdraw Mugabe Presidential  candidature for 2018.

“It is us the war veterans who put Mugabe into power. We the war veterans who agreed to the authorship of the Mgagao document and append our signatures to it now withdraw the mandate we gave to Robert Mugabe to be the leader,” said Benard Manyadza, who was seemingly leading the delegation .

Narrating how President Mugabe succumbed to power Manyadza said, “In 1975 officers at Mgagao training camp in Tanzanaia after consulting with others in Zambia and Mozambique wrote a document denouncing President Ndabaningi Sithole. The document known as the Mgagago document accused Sithole of abandoning he struggle to pursue personal issues.”

The eight member delegation of former liberation fighters described Mugabe as a failure for turning the country into a laughing stock. The group blamed  President Mugabe of running down the economy and fuelling tribal wars, hence the decision to withdraw their support.

“Zimbabwe once the jewel and bread basket of Africa is now a failed state and a laughing stoke even amongst the poorest of nations, its people are now divides along political, ethnic and tribal lines and the economy is in doldrums.

Contrary to our revolutionary ethos, Mugabe has played the racist card where all Africans suddenly ceased to be Zimbabweans using the dubious indigenisation laws, the colonialist created groupings, the gushungo cult and efforts to create a Mugabe dynasty,” said manyadza who was known as Parker Chipoyera in the liberation struggle.

Manyadza who claims that he is part of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) said the recently held War Veterans indaba was hijacked as they were muzzled to freely express themselves.

“A meeting between selected War Veterans and the president of Zimbabwe, who is also the patron of the Zimbabwe national Liberation War Veterans’ Association Robert Mugabe, which was held on 7 April was a mockery to the war veterans, the fallen heroes and the Zimbabwean nation at large.

“A process of creening ostensibly to weed out pseudo war veterans from attending was put in place and attendance was by invitation  the true intention of the screening exercise is exclude those war veterans deemed to be openly opposed to Robert Mugabe’s continued mis-rule of our country,” said Manyadza while reading from a statement.