War veterans deserve better

Editorial Comment
I want to thank the honourable member who moved the motion. Just to say, without the war veterans, all of us would not been here today.

BELOW is the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises minister’s contribution to a motion on war veterans in the National Assembly on Tuesday:

Mr Speaker Sir, this is a very important topic. I want to thank the honourable member who moved the motion. Just to say, without the war veterans, all of us would not been here today.

We would be still under the colonial yoke. We must also take note that the people who went to war were nationalist first. They loved their nation and they were very committed not just to the nation of Zimbabwe, but to Pan-Africanism.

Even today, you can tell the difference between real war veterans because that was ingrained in the people to fight for the nation and to sacrifice. Most of the war veterans, people who went to war from this country, were nationalists first.

They went to war because they loved their country. They sacrificed their lives, their youth, education; some sacrificed their families and went to fight in order to liberate this country.

They sacrificed even jobs. They left their careers for other people and it is very important that we debate this motion with an intention to come up with some resolution, to do something for the war veterans. Most of the war veterans were really eschewed — I have no English word for it. They were oriented and came here so strong; they are very strong people and principled, most of them.

An example is our president. When he has a policy or a principle, he will follow it to the end. We need to emulate that kind of spirit of the war veterans.

I want to agree with one of the honourable members who said that during the war, the war veterans were not just men, but we had women. Some of the women left homes as girls. They went to war and fought the war.

They came back and are still fighting to liberate us as women so that we really take our place in society. We cannot thank them enough because they set an example of what it is to sacrifice for other people. They were not just the war veterans who went outside the country, but there were also detainees. We have examples of women and men who were detained for so many years.

For instance, our president and our former Vice-President the late Joshua Nkomo; they were detained for many years before they went to war. Those are the people we are talking about today, people who suffered physically, emotionally and intellectually on our behalf.

There were also war collaborators. Those war collaborators were young boys who ran around with messages. There were women who cooked for the comrades.

There were women who cooked and accommodated the comrades and some of the war collaborators sacrificed their own families, businesses and supported the war veterans. It is, therefore, very important comrades that we take this motion very seriously.

I would like to call upon all the relevant ministries to take note of this motion, especially when it comes to the empowerment of the war veterans. War veterans need to be empowered.

I want to agree with one of the speakers that they suffered and they missed out on education and some of the things that they would have done.

Therefore, it is important to make openings at all levels of our society and every member of the executive must make sure that we cater for the war veterans.

For instance, on our boards, I think it should be mandatory that every board must have a war veteran. War veterans must be represented on boards so that at least we take them seriously and we reward them accordingly.

In my constituency Nkayi North, I have a motto for war veterans, detainees and war collaborators. Mr Speaker Sir, I am sorry to say that those people are suffering.

They have nothing to do and it appears like nobody really cares about them because most of them never went to school.

When they came back, they never continued with their education and their children also seem to be forgotten.

I think the best we can do for our war veterans is to take the recommendations on these motions.

The best we can do for them really is to take care of their children. Let us make sure that every child of a war veteran is educated because when you educate a child, you also support the future of the parent. You can imagine that this war veteran left his or her family and went to war.

When she/he was out there, nothing was done because the Smith regime was upon his/her family.

When they came back, I know that something was done, but now a lot of them especially in the rural areas are suffering. I hope that something will be done.

There are widows of war veterans. Pensions of their husbands are not coming through as they should. I really would like to commend that widows and children of war veterans should be taken care of. One of the things that is making some of the war veterans suffer is the effects of sanctions.

Yes, let the sanctions be removed in toto because when you look at it now some of us are aware that there are saboteurs in Zimbabwe. We need to work together and make sure that every Zimbabwean speaks the same language.

We need to be together to appreciate these people and we cannot appreciate them by talking good.

Let us appreciate them by acting together to address their cause so that at least in future, they feel that are grateful for what they did for this country.

 Nyoni is also Nkayi South MP