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the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Martin Rushwaya, has said.
Mr Rushwaya said this while giving oral evidence before the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs yesterday together with officials from his ministry.
The ministry, he said, had been allocated US$194,6 million in the 2011 budget with US$68,9 million being set aside for operations and the remainder being for salaries.
“Our challenge in terms of operations is the issue of the release of funds, that is the major handicap, we have the money on paper but the release is a challenge.
“In terms of welfare, members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces are not adequately housed. We still have outstanding projects at Dzivarasekwa, Imbizo and Khumalo barracks.
“The other issue is that of spares, especially as regards the Airforce of Zimbabwe. AFZ is in a sorry state because of shortage of spares, our state of repairs in terms of aircraft is pathetic,” Mr Rushwaya said.
He added that the ZDF vehicles were also short of spares or had outlived their lifespan while army personnel did not have enough uniforms.
“The vehicle fleet is depleted as a result of shortage of spares and age, they have outlived their lifespan. However, despite these meagre resources we are trying our best to meet our constitutional obligations,” he said.
The poor funding has resulted in soldiers going for over a year with one uniform while the ministry can only provide less than a third of their dietary requirements.
The general manager of the Zimbabwe Defence Industries, retired colonel Tshinga Dube said the company was also facing capitalisation problems with its uniform manufacturing factory at Darwendale not operating.
He said this has been exacerbated by the closure of textile manufacturer David Whitehead that used to provide raw materials for soldiers’ uniforms.
Rtd Col Dube said the company could also not compete with Asian companies and urged Government to designate the ZDI as the supplier of first option to the ZDF.
The ZDI was established by an Act of parliament in 1985 but was weaned from Government support at the adoption of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme in the late 1980s.
Mr Rushwaya urged Government to prioritise issues of defence and national security as they were the cornerstone of national development.
Online Reporter