Zimbabwe's war veterans have reportedly approached the High Court seeking an order declaring the intervention by the defence forces as a lawful and justified action meant to defend constitutionalism.

According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, the war veterans said that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) realised that President Robert Mugabe had been captured by his wife Grace and her Generation 40 (G40) gang.

This was "to an extent that he (Mugabe) was no longer able to exercise his functions [and it was then that the ZDF moved] in to protect the nation by weeding out the criminal elements that had positioned themselves around the head of State", the war veterans said.

Failure by the President to make key decisions, allowing his wife and the G40 to embark on serious purges in the ruling Zanu-PF had the effect of destabilising the country.

To that end, the liberators said, "ZDF rightly intervened with corrective measures in the best interest of the president and the nation at large in terms of Section 212 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe".

A New Zimbabwe report said that in the application, the war veterans were the applicant while Mugabe was the first respondent. The Minister of Defence Sydney Sekeremai and the attorney general were cited as the third and fourth respondent.

This came as reports on Monday said that ousted Zimbabwean vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa was in contact with Mugabe and would return to the country soon. This was said by the army chief in a televised statement.

"The security services are encouraged by new developments which include contact between the president and the former vice president comrade Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa who is expected in the country shortly. Thereafter the nation will be advised of the outcome of talks between the two," said army chief general Constantino Chiwenga.