President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday launched yet another empowerment scheme targeting former liberation war fighters whose source of funding is shrouded in secrecy amid concerns around lack of transparency.
Mnangagwa launched the Presidential War Veterans Empowerment scheme led by his special advisor Paul Tungwarara whose office is not subject to scrutiny by the Auditor General’s Office or Parliament for check and balances.
The scheme, that saw the allocation of US$200 000 per province, was an addition to the Presidential War Veterans Housing Scheme, Presidential War Veterans Borehole Drilling Scheme and the Presidential War Veterans Bicycle Scheme.
According to Tungwarara, beneficiaries will also include dependants of liberation war heroes, war collaborators, on-combatants , ex-political prisoners, political detainees and restrictees whose associations will each receive US$500 000.
Mnangagwa also unveiled 50 tractors and 40 vehicles that will be allocated to the country’s 10 provinces ostensibly to assist war veterans in their daily operations and mobility.
The genesis of these schemes can be traced back to the time a group of war veterans linked to former Zanu PF central committee member Blessed Geza started demanding that the president must step down.
Mnangagwa was accused of betraying the ideals of the liberation struggle through alleged corruption, nepotism and misgovernance.
Tungwarara emerged from the shadows to lead the setting up of the schemes that are throwing cash to war veterans like confetti at a wedding, leading to suspicions that it is an attempt to buy the former fighters’ silence.
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War veterans are an influential group in the ruling party and can make or a break any leader as was shown in Robert Mugabe‘s case when he was overthrown by the military in 2017.
It is expected that any leader will get jittery when it becomes apparent that they are mobilising for their removal from office, but we don’t expect public funds to be used to manage internal politics in the ruling party.
Institutions such as Parliament must rise to the occasion and start demanding transparency in the way these funds under Tungwarara’s office are sourced and managed.
Politicians must also desist using the former liberation war fighters as pawns in their games in exchange for trinkets that do little to change their fortunes.
The government should setting up structured programmes to improve the livelihoods of those who sacrificed their lives to free this country from colonial bondage and stop treating them as charity cases.
