VETERANS of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, who last year occupied hundreds of white-owned farms, have threatened to seize companies that support a planned anti-government general strike.
War veterans leader Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi said that if the planned mass action called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) takes place, the former freedom fighters would invade and take over all firms they find shut during the strike.
“If we find any companies locked, we will break in and take them over,” Hunzvi was quoted as saying by the independent Daily News.
“We will take them, just as we have done with the commercial farms,” said the fiery former guerrilla who led the often violent invasions and occupations of more than 1_600 farms last year.
The MDC, which last year suspended plans for a general strike, this week said the proposed anti-government action was still on the cards, but has not indicated a date.
Hunzvi charged that the MDC is backed by white farmers and white businessmen.
The war veterans have warned the mainly white judges in the country’s Supreme Court to resign or risk being forced out of office, claiming that their verdicts on the land dispute were biased in favour of whites.
Last week, war veterans forcibly closed local government offices in the western border town of Plumtree after they accused the workers there of sympathising with the MDC. – AFP
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