Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) 15,000 army jobs to go: Mnangagwa

COMMENT - It should be obvious. They defund agriculture, defund defense, and they also want to make the education system fees only. The MDC is funded by foreign powers, and now they want to weaken the Zimbabwean army.

15,000 army jobs to go: Mnangagwa
by Lebo Nkatazo
26/01/2011 00:00:00

The staff reduction is necessary to ensure quality care for the armed forces in the face of a cash squeeze facing central government, Mnangagwa said. The minister, speaking at the Zimbabwe Staff College of the Joint Command in Harare, expressed disappointment with the budget allocation for his ministry.

“The current budget levels cannot sufficiently address the needs of our defence forces, be it in equipment, training, salaries and adequate accommodation. If we are to continue providing reasonable care for our troops, we need to trim the force from the current 55,000 to 40,000 to match available funds,” he said.

Army chiefs have already assailed Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s US$194,67 million allocation for the Defence Ministry in his US$2,7 billion budget unveiled in November last year. Martin Rushwaya, the Secretary for Defence, stormed: "We are being reduced to an army of mere tribesmen.

“These meagre resources will hamper the Zimbabwe National Army from meeting its constitutional requirements.”

Zimbabwe’s military top brass, seen as loyalists of President Robert Mugabe, have read Biti’s budget snub as a political move in the internal dynamics of the strained power sharing government.

Biti, a member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party, has denied underfunding the military, saying that ministries submitted budget requests amounting to US$11,3 billion – almost four times the total budget. But the economy’s slow pace of recovery and lack of foreign budgetary support, Biti said, limited his capacity to keep all ministries satisfied.

Labels: ARMED FORCES, JOBLOSSES, MDC, NEOLIBERALISM, TREASON

posted by MrK @ 3:20 PM