Addressing journalists at Harvest House due to lack of access to his government offices Biti said he will carry on with his duties.
“We are not afraid of anyone. So you can send your bombs as you have done to some of our houses. We are not afraid of you we are not afraid of you. We will continue to do our jobs as we have been asked to do so until the life of this inclusive government,” Biti said.
The secretary general of the main stream MDC added: “If your question is will we resign? That will not happen. We will not bow down to that, that will not happen,” Biti said.
Yesterday for the 12th time war veterans, carrying placards inscribed “Biti has failed to run the economy and must go now”, brought business to a standstill threatening anyone who wanted to gain entry into the offices that house other ministries’ offices.
War vets 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 said the attack is just a political move.
“The attacks on the ministry of finance are political. They are intended to emasculate not just the ministry of finance but they are also a personal attack on the person of the minister of finance in his personal right.
“If anyone thinks that by organising vampire attacks on the ministry they will cow us or make us afraid, that will not happen,” Biti said.
Biti said the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Patrick Chinamasa was not allowed to formally leave through the official entrance. He added that “All civil servants who have vehicles that are normally parked on the ground floor of that building similarly could not drive away their vehicles.”
The finance Minister said they are unable to guarantee the security of their workers “never mind the security of our own persons as individuals.”
Some of the demands that war veterans are clamouring for, Biti said, include the purchase of vehicles for chiefs, the salary review for civil servants. They have also raised concerns over the disbanding of Zanu PF DCCs, the issue of disunity in the inclusive government, the abuse of war veterans by political parties, the issue of poverty and the widening gap between the rich and the poor and of course the issue of their allowances.
The war veterans first picketed Biti’s offices in June 2011, then in April, May, June, July and August 2012 over numerous demands.
Post published in: News