Mugabe struggles to pay army

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped government is struggling to provide for its army with most soldiers set to earn salaries far below the poverty datum line (breadline) next year, according to a report by a special parliamentary committee on defence.

In the clearest indication yet that Zimbabwe’s seven-year economic crisis may be starting to cripple President Robert Mugabe’s ability to keep the armed forces happy, the committee added that insufficient funds allocated the army under the 2007 national budget would limit its capacity to perform its “basic constitutional and statutory” duties. The Harare administration has in the past gone out of its way to meet almost every cash request from the Ministry of Defence, which oversees the army, but this month allocated the department Z$227 billion against a bid of $351,9 billion.Out of the total vote for the defence department, the Zimbabwe National Army will get $116 billion for salaries for its estimated 40 000 troops, enough to support a pay rise of more than 300 per cent next year but which would still leave soldiers earning below the poverty line, the parliamentary committee submitted to the House last week.The committee said: “At the current scales, the allocation can only support a pay increase of 350 percent which would see a general duty soldier remaining under the poverty datum line which at the time is pegged at $175 000.”But soldiers’ salaries will even be far below the poverty line after the Central Statistics Office this week said the breadline had gone up to $228 133 for a model family of five people after year-on-year inflation jumped from 1 070,2 per cent in October to 1098,8 per cent in November.The parliamentary committee said apart from failing to pay soldiers a living wage, the defence department would also be unable to recapitalise the army or maintain military infrastructure on the insufficient resources allocated to it.”The under funding of a sensitive and critical institution like the Zimbabwe Defence Forces is not in the best interest of the nation,” the committee said.ZimOnlineThe Harare administration has in the past gone out of its way to meet almost every cash request from the Ministry of Defence, which oversees the army, but this month allocated the department Z$227 billion against a bid of $351,9 billion.Out of the total vote for the defence department, the Zimbabwe National Army will get $116 billion for salaries for its estimated 40 000 troops, enough to support a pay rise of more than 300 per cent next year but which would still leave soldiers earning below the poverty line, the parliamentary committee submitted to the House last week.The committee said: “At the current scales, the allocation can only support a pay increase of 350 percent which would see a general duty soldier remaining under the poverty datum line which at the time is pegged at $175 000.”But soldiers’ salaries will even be far below the poverty line after the Central Statistics Office this week said the breadline had gone up to $228 133 for a model family of five people after year-on-year inflation jumped from 1 070,2 per cent in October to 1098,8 per cent in November.The parliamentary committee said apart from failing to pay soldiers a living wage, the defence department would also be unable to recapitalise the army or maintain military infrastructure on the insufficient resources allocated to it. “The under funding of a sensitive and critical institution like the Zimbabwe Defence Forces is not in the best interest of the nation,” the committee said.ZimOnline