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WEEKEND revelations by the Ministry of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, ex-Political Detainees and Restrictees that some elements are fleecing the government of money meant to educate children of former liberation fighters made disturbing reading.
In an address in Bulawayo captured by our sister paper, Sunday News, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Retired Brigadier-General Walter Tapfumaneyi, said they had discovered that more than $150 000 was paid in Harare last year for non-existent children of war vets.
“Where there is money there are challenges all the time. Take for instance we did a sample in Harare Province in 2015 for 40 percent of the schools that we pay students school fees for and we realised we paid $156 000 for children who do not exist, ghost children.
“At Inkomo Barracks School, Sergeant Majors and Captains and the district executive for Zvimba connived that children who pay $87 pay $300.
They were sharing that money, as managers we deal with such issues but you find that such corruption affects comrades who will not have done wrong. Some after paying they would go and marry many wives yet children have no school fees,” Rtd Brig-Gen Tapfumaneyi was quoted as saying.
He also revealed how one war veteran has for the past 14 years been collecting school fees for a child who has since stopped schooling while another is now a flight-lieutenant in the Air Force of Zimbabwe.
“War vets, our wives and our children by law benefit from school fees payment in our midst, if one wants to do a doctorate they can apply and we pay if funds permit. The challenge is that this money is not coming. The only cash we received was $6,4 million which was used to pay part of school fees for term one.
“We did not finish paying the school fees as we were instructed to take some funds to host the meeting we had with the President. We used $2,4 million which has not been returned. We were promised $6,4 million which has not come which was meant for second term fees, another $6,4 million was further promised to us and we have not seen it yet.”
The issue of those corruptly milking the government money through false claims and in the process affecting deserving children should be speedily looked into so that the culprits are brought to book. There have been reports already that some children of former freedom fighters owe schools large sums of money as their schools have not received payments of fees for the past two terms. Recent reports also indicated that some schools barred children of war veterans from attending class at the beginning of this term over non-payment of fees.
The patient ones admitted the children but in the past few weeks, some schools have started chasing away the children over non-payment of fees.
This has resulted in some war veterans selling personal property in order for their children to remain in class yet some corrupt elements driven by greed and through corrupt means fleece the government of money meant for this great cause.
There are many veterans who suffered various injuries during the war and cannot fend for their families. Some have died and left behind widows and in worst cases, orphans who have to benefit from the education fund. While it is understandable that the economy is facing challenges hence the delays in disbursing money for school fees, there should be strict monitoring of the funds already distributed by the government to curb the corrupt activities raised by Rtd Brig Gen Tapfumaneyi.
Those guilty of this fraud should be quickly handed to the relevant authorities and the law should take its course because they have shown that they are not only ungrateful and heartless, but are also callous. The fund for the education of children of war veterans should benefit all under it not be diverted to finance the acquisition of property or wives. The ministry should therefore move swiftly to address the issues of corruption so that the deserving recipients of the fund benefit.
President Mugabe is on record as reiterating the government’s commitment to the welfare of ex-freedom fighters but the actions of a few greedy officials are scuppering the noble intentions of Government. It is disheartening that at a time when the Government is sacrificing scarce resources to meet its obligations to ex-combatants, a few bad apples are conniving to defraud it.
These misguided elements need to be exposed and prosecuted for abusing this facility. On its part, the Government needs to tighten its accounting systems to ensure that such abuse is eliminated entirely.
Online Reporter