Zimbabwe police arrests war veteran over Mugabe comment

Zimbabwe: A top official of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) Douglas Mahiya, was arrested by police in Zimbabwean on Wednesday for calling president Robert Mugabe a corrupt dictator, with human rights lawyers saying the president had started a crackdown on his former allies.

Douglas Mahiya who is the information secretary of (ZNLWVA), was detained over a statement the association issued last week against Mugabe's rule, a statement the government labelled as "treasonous".
According to a police spokesman on Thursday; 

"The police is investigating that case, and the arrest is in connection with that case,"

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights group in a statement said the police also arrested Victor Matemadanda, secretary-general of the war veterans association but there was no immediate confirmation of the arrest from the police.

"A clampdown on war veterans has commenced," the lawyers said.

The association who had backed Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party since independence in 1980, last week accused the Mugabe of shutting down the country, taking out rivals and being divisive in politics and manipulative in general.

Addressing a rally organised to show he still have the massive public support on Wednesday, Mugabe called the veterans' leaders "rebels."
He said:

"those behind the statement would be punished for their crimes and of seeking regime change."