Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) War vets approach Biti over pensions

War vets approach Biti over pensions
by
06/05/2010 00:00:00

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti on Thursday promised war veterans regular payments of their pensions after a holding a meeting with the ex-fighters who are also demanding that the monthly allowances be increased from US$50 to US$600.

The war veterans, led Joseph Chinotimba, went to Biti's office demanding that the government resume payment their monthly allowances which were cut off last year due to lack of funds in government coffers. Biti urged patience insisting the government did not have the resources to offer the demanded increase.

"Our economy is not yet performing. We need to wait a bit," the minister said describing the meeting as 'friendly'. Chinotimba said his members were not looking for a fight with Biti but wanted to discuss ways of alleviating the suffering of the former liberation fighters.

"He is an MDC (Biti), I am Zanu (PF) but he is in the GNU (Government of National Unity) so he deals with everyone, we did not come here to fight Biti, what we want is money," Chinotimba said.

In a letter addressed to the minister, the war veterans said they were wallowing in poverty adding efforts to clarify the issue with the Ministry of Defence’s Department of War Veterans Affairs had not been successful.

“It is disappointing to note that despite numerous efforts to get these monies, nothing fruitful has come out.
“The ministry that is responsible for administering these funds has openly and clearly pointed out that they have not received any allocations from the Ministry of Finance, the ministry you head,” the letter read in part.

The war veterans said they were also angered by the fact that while they failed to access their money, Minister Biti had made allocations to the ministries of Housing and Social Amenities as well as that for Information Communication Technology.

“War veterans are suffering and they are being taken for granted by these people. So we are saying we should act now before we die of hunger. What is housing and ITC when the comrades are hungry?” Chinotimba asked.

In 1997, following massive strikes by the war veterans, the government was forced to dish out ZW$50 000 to every former combatant for their role in the liberation of the country. In addition they were receiving monthly allowances and school fees for their children.

However the authorities have failed to sustain the monthly payments as the economy struggles to recover from years of decline.

Public sector workers have also been quite restive but treasury officials insist the economy is not generating enough funds to allow a significant review of salaries with the government wage bill said to be taking more than 70 percent of revenues.

The problem has been worsened by the unavailability of credit lines needed to boost activity in the productive sectors and the reluctance of western donors to provide substantive support to the country’s coalition government.

Labels: JOSEPH CHINOTIMBA, PENSIONERS, TENDAI BITI, WAR VETERANS

posted by MrK @ 4:33 PM