Addressing war veterans at Davies Hall last Thursday, the
Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister, who is also the ruling Zanu-PF
national chairperson, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said a probe to establish why
war veterans have not been given the mining claims, that include gold and
lithium, two years after President Mnangagwa allocated them, has since been
launched.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said it was extremely
regrettable that senior officials in her ministry were involved in uncouth
dealings, in the process bringing the name of the President into disrepute.
She said the Second Republic under the leadership of
President Mnangagwa was committed to improving the welfare of war veterans.
“The President in 2020 approved 35 mines which he said
should be allocated to war veterans. These mines are across the country, some
have since been given out to the beneficiaries but others are yet to be handed
over. We are hearing that the delays are as a result of underhand dealings by
officials and I have reported that to the President.
We are investigating and I want to assure you that we will
get to the bottom of the matter. War Veterans should never suffer,” said
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri.
She also took the opportunity to apprise the war veterans
on the operationalisation of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act [Chap
17:12] following its promulgation in September 2020.
The enactment of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle
Act was in pursuit of President Mnangagwa’s vision to move the country towards
a prosperous and empowered middle-income society by 2030.
Minister Muchunguri-Kashiri said prior to the process of
aligning laws to the Constitution, War Veterans and ex-political prisoners,
detainees and restrictees were administered by two separate pieces of
legislation namely, the War Veterans Act [Chap 11:15] and the ex-political
prisoners, detainees and restrictees Act [Chap 17:10). These acts have since
been repealed and replaced by the all-encompassing Veterans of the Liberation
Struggle Act [Chap 17:12] which recognises all the categories of veterans of the
liberation struggle as provided for by the Constitution.
These are war veterans, ex-political prisoners, detainees
and restrictees, non-combatant cadres and war collaborators.
She said the intention of the Second Republic in aligning
the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act [Chap 17:12] to the Constitution is
for Government to create a holistic framework for dealing with the welfare and
economic empowerment of veterans of the liberation struggle. “Through this Act,
including the repealed legislation, veterans of the liberation struggle were
and are still entitled to a monthly pension.
Veterans and their children are also entitled to education
benefits at Government schools or educational institutions and in the event of
them or their children enrolling at non-Government institutions or outside the
country, they are given educational benefits equal in amount to the fees
payable at Government schools or institutions,” said Minister
Muchinguri-Kashiri.
Government capped school fees allowance for war veterans’
children at US$300 paid in local currency equivalent.
She said in addition, veterans, their spouses and children
are entitled to full medical cover in the event of illness.
In the unfortunate occurrence of death, families of
deceased veterans are entitled to funeral grants as well as 20 percent of land
gazetted for resettlement.
“In the past pensions for war veterans and ex-political
prisoners, detainees and restrictees were determined differently.
The formula for determining the monthly pension for these
categories has now been harmonised under an indexation framework that was
improved by the Second Republic to ensure that whenever salaries and allowances
of members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces are increased, the monthly pensions
of war veterans are also automatically increased.
“It should also be noted that while all pensions payable
from the Consolidated Revenue Fund are administered directly by the Pension
Office in terms of the provisions of the Pensions Review Act [Chap 16:03], the
Ministry of Defence and War Veterans Affairs is still responsible for
initiating fundamental changes to pension policy for its clients,” said
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment