War vets plunged into chaos

Internal elections have been postponed indefinitely as factional fighting in Zanu (PF) continues to haunt the association, with some war vets pushing for the ouster of all those linked to ousted former vice president Joyce Mujuru.
“We are not happy at all with the criteria which some of our colleagues want to use,” said one of the angry war veterans who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Any genuine war veteran is able to run for any post. To bar those linked to former vice president Mujuru from contesting is unconstitutional,” he said.
“Our constitution is very clear that every former freedom fighter, even those from the MDC-T, is qualified to run for any post,” said the disgruntled war veteran.
Samson Zivanani a war veteran said they were just taking a leaf from Zanu (PF) to fire all members linked to the former vice president. “We are an affiliate of Zanu (PF) hence we should follow what happened. All those who supported former VP Mujuru should not be seen anywhere near our meetings because they are sell-outs who wanted to kill our president,” he said.
Acting war veterans Masvingo provincial chairman, retired colonel Charles Muchena, who is also seeking re-election confirmed that all was not well. “We held two meetings in which we wanted to elect leaders but these meetings nearly degenerated  into a fist fight,” said Muchena.
Inside sources said police had to be called in last week after the former freedom fighters’ meeting at the chiefs hall in Masvingo turned violent. “We had to be restrained from fighting by the police as some war veterans were pushing and shoving each other resulting in the meeting being abandoned,” said the source.
Christopher Mutsvangwa , the minister responsible for war veterans, refused to comment on the developments.