NINE war veterans were arrested yesterday after they allegedly besieged Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s office demanding better pensions.
The war veterans, who are members of the War Veterans
Welfare pressure group, who were also arrested at the New Government Complex in
the central business district, were charged with inciting public violence.
Faith Chananda, Nyasha Mangena, Wonderful Kabarauta, Shorai
Nyamangudo, Isso Madzivanyika, Daphne Kanoti, Mazikana Marron, Sthyine Maphosa
and Jordan Mberadzina, who are all above 60 years of age, were arrested
following several fruitless attempts to engage Ncube.
They were demanding that government should raise their
current monthly pension around $16 000, which they said was not enough to meet
their basic needs. “We were not demonstrating,” one of the war veterans said.
“We were actually adhering to COVID-19, while waiting for
the minister to bring a response to us. We were blocked by staff members at the
Finance ministry on several occasions from meeting the minister so that we
table our grievance before him.
“We were informed that the Finance ministry had forwarded
our grievance to the Public Service and the State Security ministries. We then
demanded to see the copy of the letter which was sent to the ministries and we
were told to come today to collect it. That is when we were arrested.”
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said
he had not yet received the report of the incident. Newsday
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