THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE AND WAR VETERANS (HON. MUCHINGURI-KASHIRI): Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to thank you for allowing me to respond to the serious accusations that have been leveled against the Minister of Defence and War Veterans in my personal capacity and also the Ministry as a whole. The accusations, I will list just a few, the first one being that we are not looking after our soldiers, the second one is that it is only senior officials in the Defence Forces who are abusing the funds which are meant to benefit the soldiers as a whole.
I want to start by saying these accusations are baseless and unfounded. These are very serious accusations which we are not taking lightly. These accusations are coming at a time when we have recently celebrated the great work that our soldiers are doing in order to defend our independence and territorial integrity. I want also to emphasise that these soldiers are a people’s force who respect the interest of our nation and also protect the people of Zimbabwe.
Last week when we had our Zimbabwe Defence Forces Day, His Excellency shared with the nation programmes which are lined up in order to address the interest of our soldiers. I will start Mr. Speaker, with the military salary concept which had been abandoned during the First Republic, only to be resuscitated during this Second Republic. Hon. Speaker, I want to emphasise also that our Excellency– [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
HON. PHULU: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
HON. PHULU: In terms of Standing Rule 96 Mr. Speaker Sir, a personal explanation may be given and I believe a personal explanation is being given but however in giving the personal explanation, no contentious matter may be brought forward and the issues of the First Republic are contentious matters. So that is my point of order Mr. Speaker Sir – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
HON. MUCHINGURI-KASHIRI: Mr. Speaker Sir – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, I disqualified your point of order. It is contentious to you but not to the House. Can you sit down please!
HON. PHULU: Rule 96 says a contentious matter may not be raised. Mr. Speaker, if you are ruling to say the matter is not contentious, so be it but you dismissed me rudely. Just rule that it is not contentious.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: It is not contentious to the House please.
HON. MUCHINGURI-KASHIRI: Mr. Speaker, let me add also that over and above the military salary concept which was suspended, as I indicated, it has also been resuscitated. So we are very happy that it was not just the salaries but the allowances were also increased and this is across the board. In fact, we made sure that there were differentiations between the salaries. We gave much more to the lowest junior soldiers – [AN HON. MEMBER: How much?]- I cannot divulge the information– [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]- I also have a right. Yes, I want to go further and indicate officers’ accommodation which we inherited from the colonial era which we had not rehabilitated, the Second Republic was able to set aside resources to repair most of our accommodation.
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