MDC-T condemns war veterans' March on Biti's office
03/10/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party has condemned a march on Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s office on Tuesday by a group demanding a review of war veterans’ pension payments.
Veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war are paid US$130 per month, but the group numbering a few hundred called for an upward adjustment to match the US$596 the government calculates an average family needs to stay above poverty.
Biti, who is the MDC-T’s secretary general, was not at his office when the group arrived but his party says the protesters locked doors and made threats.
The party said in a statement: “The MDC strongly condemns the barbaric behaviour displayed by some self-styled war veterans who locked access doors into the Minister of Finance’s government offices.
“The behaviour is totally uncalled for as it happens when the Finance Minister is frantically trying to source revenue to fund various government projects including the salaries for thousands of civil servants and their bonuses.”
The MDC-T said the “so-called war veterans are hired thugs who have been made to hold a mock demonstration at the minister’s offices in order to divert attention from the real looters of the country’s resources”.
But the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association Harare Province commissar Rai Gwenyambira insisted their grievances were real.
He said: “We petitioned him three months ago and we thought he would do something as he promised, but we are still struggling to make ends meet.
“Enough is enough and the fact that he has failed means he has to leave office as a matter of urgency.”
The ZNLWVA’s secretary for lands Isso Madzivanyika added: “There is nowhere we can get money except from Treasury. Our children are no longer going to school as we are failing to pay fees.
“Most of the war veterans are farmers and Minister Biti is not releasing funds for the grain they delivered to the Grain Marketing Board. These are the same people suffering because the funds are not there. He has refused to support the country’s agriculture yet this is a sector that drives our economy.”
Biti has slashed his 2012 budget by US$400 million, citing low receipts from diamond revenues.
The minister has warned the government could default on salaries for its 230,000 workers. Biti has asked for a bailout from Zimbabwe’s neighbours South Africa, Botswana and Angola.
posted by MrK @ 3:46 PM
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