VICE-PRESIDENT Kembo Mohadi has said government will soon
review traditional leaders allowances because their earnings are meagre given
the prevailing economic situation.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with Midlands chiefs
on Wednesday in Gweru, Mohadi said the traditional leaders had raised concern
over their welfare and that government was going to address their grievances.
“During our closed-door meeting, the chiefs raised burning
concerns, including that of their welfare,” Mohadi said.
“We must understand that chiefs don’t have much in terms of
allowances and we are definitely going to review their allowances.”
Mohadi, however, did not disclose how much the traditional
leaders were demanding as an increment.
The demands by chiefs come at a time when government
critics have questioned the pampering of chiefs given that government is
struggling to meet demands tabled
by civil servants.
On Tuesday, government offered its workers a 50% cushioning
allowance for July and salary increment of ZW$116 per individual from August to
December.
Workers’ representatives, however, rejected the offer,
saying the lowest paid civil servant should earn at least ZWL$4 750.
Last year, chiefs were given brand new Isuzu double-cab
vehicles with government promising them more benefits such as land, houses and
fuel, among others.
In December last year at the chiefs annual conference in
Kadoma, President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised to exempt traditional leaders
from paying land tax and
would be given more land and benefit from the command
livestock initiative.
Critics, however, say the packages showered on chiefs are a
vote-buying gimmick by the ruling Zanu PF party, which uses traditional leaders
to coerce rural
voters to vote for the party.
But government maintains that since traditional leaders are
custodians of the land, their welfare should be a top priority. Newsday
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