Lack of Legitimacy Brought Split Within Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association

Abstract: The collaborative connection between veterans and Zimbabwe's governing party, ZANU PF, has been strained on many occasions since the country's independence, as this essay argues. The governing party employed veterans and others, particularly young people, to attempt to maintain its influence among these groups, much as it had used Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) veterans to gain influence in the army, the bureaucracy, and among urban workers. The members of the governing party endangered the power and privilege that war veterans coveted, hence they often had objectives that differed from the party's. However, because Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa's term has ended, several ZNLWVA veterans and members of the governing party oppose his continued leadership from 2019 until 2023. To achieve their different but related goals, the party and veterans in both eras used violence, intimidation, and appeals to the liberation fight. Political debates between "authentic" and "fake" veterans in Zimbabwe have arisen as a result of the comparison between the ZANU PF affiliate ZNLWVA and a breakaway organization. In order to assist nations in transitioning from autocratic to democratic regimes, the report recommends that elections be seen as intricate processes with a focus on "transformations rather than transitions.