MARONDERA - War veterans here have demanded a 20 percent allocation from new council residential and commercial properties.
A high level delegation of the former freedom fighters, led by senior army officer, Henry Muchena, retired Brigadier Rugeje and war veterans district representative, Douglas Chitekuteku, expressed its demands to council officials at town house last week.
As much as we would have loved to assist former freedom fighters achieve their economic goals, limited resources such as land and other related infrastructure make it difficult for us to implement their demands soon. Every right-thinking citizen would appreciate the role of war veterans in a democracy, said Mayor Farai Nyandoro.
He said Chitekuteku had indicated that the latest demands by war veterans were not forwarded to Marondera Municipality alone, but were being done at national level.
Nyandoro said his council welcomed dialogue with war veterans regarding finding lasting solutions to problems bedevilling the local authority and improving the welfare of former freedom fighters.
The former freedom fighters were supportive of council efforts to turn around the fortunes of the town. When Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, visited to consult residents about the 2011 budget, war veterans helped lobby for grants from central government to finance council projects such as the Wenimbe Water Project. They also promised to help lobby for the handover of this project from The Zimbabwe Water Authority (ZINWA), to council. The impending council job evaluation exercise also received support from the war veterans, said Nyandoro.
However, the demands were met with mixed reaction from residents and some council management members, who warned Nyandoro against naively accepting the demands as this would result in manipulation of council affairs by selfish war veterans.
Though genuine war veterans deserve rewards for their role in the countrys liberation struggle, they should not expect manna from heaven in all spheres of life. Everybody participated in one way or the other towards freeing the country from our former colonizers. In fact, genuine war veterans are hard to come by and most people masquerading as such were never anywhere near the battle front while others were too young to have taken part in the armed struggle. Should council accommodate demands by the so called war veterans, the scheme would be at the mercy of rogue Zanu (PF) thugs. If they could have their way, former freedom fighters would demand immunity from dying, said Samson Nhema, of Dombotombo.
Besides benefitting from the controversial $50 000 gratuities which sent the countrys economy into the abyss, war veterans have benefitted big time from the chaotic land reform and free education for their children among other benefits at the expense of the tax payer.
Post published in: News