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For war veterans, hopes of a second liberation
Chris McGreal, Guardian (UK)
April 06, 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/05/zimbabwe1

Men like Happy Mariri and Ishmael Dube could now be called war veterans against Robert Mugabe.

It wasn't always that way. The two men, sexagenarians who have already lived nearly twice as long as the average Zimbabwean can expect these days, once fought alongside Zimbabwe's president against white rule in Rhodesia in the 1960s, and endured years in jail as terrorists.

Dube went on to serve as an intelligence officer for Mugabe's presidential office. Mariri worked to keep alive the dreams of the war veterans for jobs and land. But now they are looking towards what they describe as a second liberation, this time from Mugabe after 28 years of authoritarian, and sometimes bloody, rule.

"I went to war to free our parents who were subjugated by the whites in Rhodesia," said Mariri. "We wanted a Zimbabwe where we took the jobs of the whites, that kind of simple thinking. But we also wanted a Zimbabwe that was free. The main objective was to usher in the era of the people of Zimbabwe deciding what they want. That is not the Zimbabwe we see today."

Dube and Mariri lead the Zimbabwe Liberators Platform, an organisation of 16,000 war veterans who really did fight in the bush, unlike many younger men who have acted as a Zanu-PF militia to terrorise the opposition.

Mariri joined the liberation forces in 1965, was captured three years later and was sentenced to hang. He was released after 11 years in prison, just before independence. Dube took up arms in 1966 at 18. He was jailed a year later and served 15 years. "We're virtually the origin of the armed struggle," said Mariri.

But after a decade or so of Mugabe's rule, the pair turned against their leader as the values they fought for were subordinated to the interests of a narrow clique that has led the country to disaster.

They shake their heads as they reflect on how, three decades after the freedom struggle, some people long for the whites to return, not to rule but to grow food.

Like many Zimbabweans the pair are torn between expectation and fear.

"Mugabe was never going to give up power easily. We know that too well," said Dube.

He added: "Mugabe has generated so much hatred from people. That's why they created these militias as institutions of murder. There was genocide in Matabeleland. That couldn't have taken place without the direct orders from the top. There are certain crimes that cannot be pardoned, crimes of murder."

If Mugabe is to be called to account it will have to be Zimbabweans who do it. The killings in Matabeleland were in the early 1980s, long before the jurisdiction of the international criminal court.

The Movement for Democratic Change has sought to reassure Mugabe by saying he will not be put on trial and will be allowed to go into a comfortable retirement as an honoured liberation fighter.

But first the MDC has to get him out.

Dube doubts that Mugabe can survive for long even if he struggles on. For a start, he said, Zimbabwe's leader can no longer rely on the loyalty of the foot soldiers of the security forces. "The generals up there have been given so much money they don't know what to do with it. But the ordinary soldiers have nothing, nothing.

"My discussions with people still serving in the army and the intelligence services is they realise that he can't win a second round. People will come forward who didn't vote before because they will say this is our chance to get rid of the monster."

Mariri is uncertain about what Zimbabweans will do if Mugabe hangs on to power. "Zimbabweans are a peaceful lot. But put them against the wall and it's hard to say what they would do. Go back in time and you have to ask yourself what made Zimbabweans go to war" against the white Rhodesian regime, he said. "At a certain point you'll be surprised what Zimbabweans will do."

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