MORALE in the security services may soon hit rock bottom as the government battles to plug a massive backlog of personal service vehicles for senior officers amid deteriorating working conditions, The NewsHawks has established.
Zimbabwe’s financially-beleaguered government has over the
years splurged millions of United States dollars on top-of-the-range vehicles
which include Land Rover Discovery, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus sports utility vehicles at a time President Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s administration has been pleading for a bailout package from
development partners.
The southern African country is facing its worst economic
crisis in a decade, characterised by hyperinflation, liquidity challenges and
high unemployment rate, largely attributed to bad governance and policy
inconsistency.
Information gathered by The NewsHawks shows that senior
officers in the military, police and prison service who are entitled to service
vehicles have been on the waiting list for close to three years without taking
delivery of the vehicles.
Sources said nearly 300 lieutenant-colonels who were
promoted from 2018 to date are yet to get their vehicles. In the police and
prison service, more than 50 superintendents who were promoted to the rank of
chief superintendent have not received their service vehicles during the same
period, sources said.
This comes against the backdrop of Finance minister Mthuli
Ncube’s claims that Treasury coffers have improved in the past two years due to
several belt-tightening measures.
Sources said while Ncube had released a circular on
personal loans for the purchase of vehicles for senior government officials
such as chief directors (previously known as principal directors), senior
servicemen were still entitled to vehicles bought by the government.
“As it stands, only battalion commanders in the case of
colonels got first preference upon their promotion. For police officers,
dispols (officer commanding district) also enjoyed this preferential treatment
because Treasury coffers appear to be depleted. It’s been three years since
newly promoted officers got new vehicles,” a security source told The
NewsHawks.
The senior officers, sources added, are entitled to
single-cab trucks such as Ford Rangers.
Critics have in the past condemned the government for
splurging millions of dollars on the importation of cars for senior officials
at a time the state-owned car assembler, Willowvale Motor Industries, is
collapsing.
Questions sent to Vincent Hungwe, chairperson of the Public
Service Commission, Defence Forces Service Commission, Police Service
Commission and Prison and Correctional Service Commission, were not responded
to at the time of going to print.
Last year, Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told
parliament there was disquiet among members of the Zimbabwe National Army and
morale had hit rock bottom as a result of the economic challenges in the
country, and confirmed some soldiers were now engaging in corrupt activities
for survival.
Muchinguri-Kashiri appeared before the parliamentary
portfolio committee on Defence and Home Affairs led by acting chairperson
Chiredzi South MP Kalisto Gwanetsa (Zanu PF), where she outlined a myriad of
challenges soldiers are facing in the discharge of their duties, including
hunger, inadequate transport and obsolete machinery.
“To all intents and purposes, they do not go on strike when
others go on strike. They are the ones brought in to bridge that gap. This is
always the case, especially with the ministry of Health medical personnel who
are almost always on strike,” she said. THE NEWSHAWKS
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