HUNTING A WAR VETERAN: WHY CIO FEAR SHOWS A WEAK AND BROKEN STATE

Zimbabwe is standing in a storm. Each day the politics becomes more dangerous and more cruel. The Central Intelligence Organisation, which works under the Minister of State Security in the Office of the President, is now hunting Andreas Ethan Mathibela, the leader of the Zimbabwe National War Veterans Association. They say he is a person of security interest. They have told immigration officers that he must not leave the country. They say he is a wanted man. This is not about safety. This is about fear and control.

Mathibela is a war veteran leader who spoke the truth. He said President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed the nation and should step down at once. He said what millions feel in their hearts. We have no jobs. Prices climb. Families go hungry. Hospitals lack medicine. Schools struggle. A leader who loves his people does not sit while the people suffer. Mathibela refused to keep quiet. For that, the state now follows him, blocks his movement, and plans to arrest him if he tries to leave Zimbabwe.

This is not only about one man. ZANU PF is breaking apart from inside. There is a fierce fight between the group of Mnangagwa and the group of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga. Both want power. Both want the party. Their fight has split supporters into angry groups. When leaders fight for chairs and not for people, a nation bleeds. The heat is rising. Even Blessed Geza, another leader among war veterans, has called on citizens to rise and remove Mnangagwa on 31 March. That call shows how deep the pain has gone. It shows a people who feel ignored and pushed aside.

War veterans were once the backbone of ZANU PF. They fought for freedom and then stood by the ruling party for many years. Today many of them are angry. They say Mnangagwa has ignored the suffering of ordinary people. They say he cares more about power than about bread and dignity. When the backbone turns, the whole body shakes. The loudest critics of Mnangagwa are now the people who once carried him on their shoulders.

By naming Mathibela a threat to national security, the CIO shows the true face of this government. It is a government that silences instead of listening. It is a government that fears its own heroes. If a war veteran cannot speak, who can speak? If a citizen cannot tell the leader to change course, what is left of our freedom? Today it is Mathibela. Tomorrow it can be any voice that refuses to praise the ruler.

People across Zimbabwe are worried. We do not want violence. We do not want more pain. We are already tired. The economy is broken. Unemployment is high. Poverty is everywhere. The fight inside ZANU PF makes our lives harder. When leaders use the CIO to chase critics, they are not fixing the price of mealie meal. They are not putting medicine in clinics. They are only spreading fear.

The call by war veterans for Mnangagwa to resign is a warning to the party. It means the party is weak and divided. It means the people are watching. It means the old tricks are failing. Zimbabwe stands at a crossroads. The state can choose to listen, to reform, and to respect the voices of citizens. Or it can choose to arrest, to silence, and to push the nation into a darker place. The world is watching. We are watching. We will keep speaking until freedom wins. We call for peace with justice, not silence with fear. Free ideas do not harm a nation. They heal it. Protect Mathibela, protect critics, and protect our dream of a free Zimbabwe.