It is reasonable to ask why these people are still breeding, but that is a story for another day. The bottom line is their children’s fees are five months in arrears.
‘Government has not paid school fees for our children since 3rd term. It is difficult for some of us who are not employed and that is the majority of the comrades,’ complained one war vet who prefers anonymity.
When Mugabe created a ministry for the war vets, every reasonable person questioned the logic of adding to an already oversized cabinet. There was no logic of course. The only plausible explanation is that Mugabe felt he owed a huge debt to the likes of Mutsvangwa who were at the forefront of the Mujuru smear campaign and, naturally, those ‘elders of the war veterans’, a body conveniently created just to engineer ‘votes of no confidence’ against several Zanu (PF) chairpersons believed to be anti-Mugabe.
To add to the financial misery, one senior army official is reportedly lending money to the broke war vets at Shylock’s interest rates.
‘We have been forced to borrow from a company owned by senior military officials as well as a cabinet minister. They are charging us so much interest that at the end of the day, even when the government eventually gives us what is due to us, many will remain in debt,’ said an unnamed ex combatant.
Post published in: News