adminMinister Mohadi said although the US$308 330 000 assigned to his ministry, which is in charge of the police, was not enough to bankroll their operations, security during next year’s elections would be ensured at all costs.
“We know that the money is not enough, in fact it has never been adequate, but when the elections come we are going to sit down and look for ways to provide security at all costs,” said Minister Mohadi in an interview.
He said some of the funds they were allocated in the 2011 budget had not yet been disbursed to the ministry.
“We acknowledge that we have been allocated the money, but that is different from the actual disbursement of the funds and in most cases what is allocated is not what we end up getting, and so the money is never enough,” said Minister Mohadi.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti presented the US$4 billion budget to Parliament on 24 November.
Turning to the erection of the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo statue in Bulawayo, Minister Mohadi said work would resume in the near future, as they had sourced part of the funds for its completion.
“As you know that we had stopped construction on site due to lack of resources, work will resume shortly,” said Minster Mohadi.
He said work on the site stopped after the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe ran out of funds to continue with the project.
“We import some of the material we are using for the statue, so given the fact that we are still under sanctions we are unable to bring the material from outside,” said Minister Mohadi.
He could not be drawn to reveal how much was needed for the completion of the project or what they had sourced for the commencement of erection of the statue.
“At the moment I cannot tell you when are we going to complete the erection of the statue, but one thing for sure is that we are going to eventually erect it.
“I can not give you the time frame of when are we going to finish erecting the statue, and such information needs technocrats and actual people on the ground,” said Minister Mohadi.
Initially the deadline for the completion of the statue, located at the intersection of Main Street and 8th Avenue, was before the Heroes Day holidays in August.
The statue, which was facing north, was pulled down on 16 September last year, a few weeks after it was erected, after the Nkomo family objected on the grounds that it did not depict the exact attributes of the late Vice-President.
The family also complained that the Government did not involve them in the whole project.
The statue itself, the family said, was very small and pitiful, hardly a street statue at all, and neither a landmark or a monument that it should be.
The two parties resolved their differences and it was agreed that the statue would be re-erected after adjusting the size of the pedestal.
Dr Nkomo, who was affectionately known as Father Zimbabwe, passed away on 1 July 1999.
derick.khumalo