BOGUS ZIPRA TAINTING OUR NAME

A FORMER Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) official on Saturday accused the suspected National Youth Service, popularly known as the Border Gezi youths, of allegedly masquerading as members of  ZPRA war veterans.
Pamela Mhlanga
The youths are reportedly harassing villagers ahead of harmonised elections.
The organisation said the youth strategy was discrediting and tainting the former liberation fighters in the eyes of the public.
Addressing Siyezi and Makoronga communities of Ward 33 during a meeting hosted by Friends of Zapu in Silobela in the Midlands yesterday, former ZPRA official Tonderayi Sithole alleged some members of Border Gezi youths were masquerading as ZPRA war veterans and harassing villagers.
“It is frustrating that after all the efforts by ZPRA war veterans to remove the fear factor that the public has regarding war veterans, there are some individuals, most of them from Border Gezi, who go about perpetrating violence and pretending they are us,” Sithole said.
Sithole added that ZPRA had principles that required members to co-operate with the masses and desist from any forms of violence on members of the public.
“We are striving to show the society that we are peace loving and that is what we have been advocating for, so that people integrate us back into the society,” Sithole added.
He urged the community to report to the police any individuals who harassed them using ex-ZPRA tags, especially towards elections, saying ZPRA war veterans did not believe in violence.
http://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/04/15/bogus-zpra-tainting-our-name-sithole/