27 December 2021
Innocent Sibonginkosi Ncube
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Barely two weeks have passed since James Makamba’s attempt to wad back into Zanu-PF was rejected, former war vets leader Jabulani Sibanda has announced his intention to rejoin the revolutionary party.
The name Jabulani Sibanda resonates with brutality beyond measure. Terror, arson and murder against unarmed rural Zimbabweans became a game for Sibanda as he coerced people into voting Zanu-PF in 2008.
Sibanda was using State resources to unleash violence across Zimbabwe.
Sibanda, a former chairman of Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), an organisation that originally comprised all the veterans that fought in the Second Chimurenga or Zimbabwe War of Liberation which ended in 1979. Born in 1970 Sibanda could not take part in the war because of his age.
He was just nine years when the liberation war ended.
Under his leadership the ZNLWVA mobilised War Veterans and other ZANU PF sympathisers to force and often violent appropriate farmland they claimed to have been stolen during colonialisation.
He was, however expelled from ZANU-PF in 2014 for being part of the Tsholotsho Declaration.
The Tsholotsho Declaration refers to a clandestine meeting organised by a faction loyal to Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2004 to plot Zanu-PF’s succession. The plot’s objective was to have Mnangagwa elevated to the vice presidency ahead of Joice Mujuru, succeeding the late Simon Muzenda.
A group led by six Zanu PF provincial chairmen, some members of the politburo, central committee, MPs, veterans of the war of liberation met at Dinyane Secondary School in Tsholotsho where an agreement was allegedly struck to install Emmerson Mnangagwa in the presidium following the death of Simon Muzenda.
Under the scheme, Mnangagwa would assume the vice-presidency and eventually the leadership of Zanu PF and the country. The meeting was held ahead of a key Zanu PF congress in 2004. Although Mnangagwa had secured the support of six of the country’s 10 provinces, he was undone by Mugabe’s move to amend the party’s constitution to ensure that one of the party’s vice-presidents was a woman. The decision saw Joice Mujuru being appointed vice-president.
Sibanda has been in the shadows since 2014 when the now late Robert Mugabe arrested and dragged him to court for over a year, accusing him of undermining the office of the President after accusing Sibanda of planning a bedroom coup.
The once mighty Sibanda, announced his intention to rejoin the ruling party at a Zanu PF meeting held at an undisclosed location.
Sibanda claims he is rejoining to ‘weed out’ criminal elements in the party.
In a video, a rejuvenated Sibanda rebuked criminals who he claims had taken over the revolutionary party and needed to be weeded out if the party was to be reorganised.
“They come and hide in the party and commit crimes, then people hate the party saying it is full of criminals,” Sibanda said.
“To the criminals, I say, it is now quarter past, it is time up. I do not care if you campaign by denigrating my name, but this party knows when Jabu is there, the party will reawaken.
“This party will rise ideological and in principle, it has to be reorganised structurally and ideologically.
“If you do not know the aims of this party, take a step back.”
Sometime back President Emmerson Mnangagwa called on the party members who had been expelled to come back into the fold.
It could be, Sibanda is heeding Mnangagwa’s call.
To those who were maimed and terrorised by Sibanda, memories will be flooding back.
Will Jabulani Sibanda, if accepted back into the party, use his terror tactics to subjugate fellow Zimbabweans into voting Zanu-PF?
Is the nation headed for another bloody and violent plebiscite as the 2023 draws nearer?
What is apparent with Zimbabweans is that they need peace, more peace enduring peace.
The electorate should not be a forced or coerced I to voting a particular party through violent means.
Zim GBC News