[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Phambiri angry Zim army phambiri

[Patrick Bond]

Zimbabwe Independent, 16 January

Government fails to pay disgruntled soldiers on time

By Constantine Chimakure

The cash-strapped government this week failed to pay soldiers their 
January salaries on time amid reports that it has also ruled out paying 
them in foreign currency in the near future - a move that has resulted 
in morale in the army hitting rock bottom. Reliable sources told the 
Zimbabwe Independent that soldiers were due to be paid yesterday, but 
were advised by officers at army barracks throughout the country that 
government was unable to pay them this week. The sources said a senior 
army officer, Colonel Mbonisi Gatsheni, former defence forces 
spokesperson, on Wednesday told soldiers at KGVI barracks that they 
would not receive their salaries on time, but did not disclose the 
reasons for the delay. "We were initially supposed to get our salaries 
on Tuesday, but the payday was moved to Thursday. During the course of 
this week we were informed that the salaries were not deposited in our 
accounts," a source said. "Gatsheni told us that our salaries will be in 
local currency and this incensed us."

The soldiers, the sources said, were now expected to get their salaries 
in local currency next week. The sources said during a commander’s 
parade on Monday, Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba told soldiers 
not to expect salaries in foreign currency because the government did 
not have adequate hard cash. Nyikayaramba, the sources added, said the 
government was working on paying allowances in hard currency in the 
interim. "He said the government didn’t have enough foreign currency to 
pay soldiers, but was considering paying our allowances in hard 
currency," one soldier said. "Nyikayaramba didn’t specify when we will 
start receiving the allowances in foreign currency." The sources said 
junior soldiers were bitter that the government had refused to pay them 
in hard currency when senior army officers from the rank of colonel had 
for months been partly paid in foreign currency. "We are angry. The 
economy has been dollarised and how are we going to buy goods and 
services with the Zimbabwe dollar?" a soldier from Llewellyn Barracks in 
Bulawayo asked yesterday. "What makes us more bitter is that some of our 
chefs (high ranking army personnel) have for months been paid in foreign 
currency."

Efforts to get a comment from Defence minister Sydney Sekeremayi and 
defence forces spokesperson Ben Ncube were in vain yesterday. Sekeremayi 
was unreachable on his mobile phone, while Ncube’s office telephone was 
not being answered. Zimbabwe’s army has since last year been saddled by 
many problems after exhausting its budgetary allocation, among them 
shortages of food to feed soldiers in barracks. Last week, the 
Independent reported that the government had resorted to slaughtering 
elephants to feed soldiers. The army has, in addition to shortages of 
food, also struggled for basics such as boots and uniforms for troops 
while the bulk of military equipment and hardware is said to be old and 
in need of replacement. Secretary for Defence Trust Maphosa last year 
told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs 
that the government was fortunate that it was not being sued by soldiers 
for failing to provide adequate and nutritious food to the army as is 
required by law. In an unprecedented show of discontent, some soldiers 
last year rioted in Harare, assaulting civilians, stealing cash from 
street currency traders and looting shops.