Army finance demands not met by cash strapped government

By Tichaona Sibanda
13 December 2006

The cash-strapped Zimbabwe government has allocated insufficient funds to the army in its 2007budget, an unprecedented move not seen since Robert Mugabe came to power in 1980.

Out of almost Z$352 billion requested from the treasury by the Ministry of Defence, only Z$227 billion has been allocated. Z$124 billion or 30% less than requested.

‘Z$124 billion is enough to meet the salaries of 40 000 soldiers in one year. This is a reflection that things are not well within government,’ said a source.

Another source told us since the country is not at war with anyone, any justification for more money from the treasury was possibly declined on this basis. Retired army colonel Bernard Matongo added that even in peacetime most of the funds allocated to the army are gobbled up in retraining staff and in keeping the force ready for action.

‘But the only threat that Mugabe faces now is an uprising from within Zimbabwe. You don’t need money to buy new equipment for that. All you need is manpower. So what you need is money to pay the manpower to raise their morale. This is the only way they can obey orders to crush any dissent,’ said the source.

According to ZimOnline, political analysts rule out the possibility of well-paid top army generals staging a coup against Mugabe. But they have always speculated that worsening hunger could at some point force the underpaid ordinary trooper either to revolt openly or to refuse to obey orders.

A recent report by a special parliamentary committee on defence said funds allocated to the army under the 2007 national budget would limit its capacity to perform its basic constitutional and statutory duties. This is also the first time that the country’s seven-year economic crisis was beginning to have some negative impact on the operations of the army.

Since independence, the regime has made defence spending its priority, going out of its way every year to ensure the Ministry of Defence got what it asked for.

The parliamentary committee raised fears the insufficient funds given to the Defence Department would make it impossible for the army to maintain its military infrastructure.

ZimOnline reported Wednesday that the army is credited with keeping Mugabe and his ruling Zanu (PF) party in power, always ready to use brutal tactics to keep public discontent in check in the face of an economic meltdown that has spawned hyperinflation and shortages of food, fuel, essential medicines, hard cash and just about every basic survival commodity.