Hunger facing soldiers as army runs out of food

By Tichaona Sibanda
23 May 2007

Parliamentarians were this week alarmed at the news that soldiers could starve if the government fails to come up with a financial rescue plan before the end of June.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Trust Maphosa, on Tuesday told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs that they were allocated Z$32 billion to spend on rations for the whole year, but it has been exhausted.

Reports from Harare said the committee, which is chaired by Zanu PF Bikita West MP Claudious Makova a former soldier, had called for the hearing to get information on the army’s first quarter budget performance. MDC MP for Mutare North Giles Mutsekwa, who sits on the same committee, said the crisis facing the ‘stubborn’ government had now spread to institutions that had helped it hold on to power in the face of a collapsed economy.

‘The soldiers tell us on a daily basis that things have gone from bad to worse in the army and that many of them have quit for greener pastures,’ Mutsekwa said.

Maphosa revealed he was scheduled to hold crisis meetings with Ministry of Finance officials this week to secure more funding for the defence forces.
‘For rations, we were allocated Z$32 billion and so far we have used 92
percent of that. What that means is that we have been left with just eight percent to take us for the rest of the year. In reality, we do not have anything because that money (remaining 8 percent) will go towards transport costs,’ he said.

Maphosa told the MPs that all along they have been moving money from other areas to boost the food budget, adding that the army had no other source to raise the funds except through treasury, which is why he was seeking an emergency meeting with finance ministry officials. Currently the armed forces of Zimbabwe are completely integrated and are composed of an army (ZNA) and an air force (AFZ). The ZNA currently has an active duty strength of 30,000. The air force has about 5,000 men assigned.