War Collaborators Demand Compensation From Government

By Lawrence Paganga

Mutoko – Hundreds of war collaborators here have demanded that the government recognise the role they played during the 1970s war of liberation, by awarding them benefits similar to those given to former combatants.

In a no-holds-barred meeting with senior Zanu PF officials at Zanu PF district offices in Mutoko, the war collaborators expressed anger at the fact that government had failed to compensate them nearly 40 years after independence. Zimbabwe attained majority rule in 1980.

“The government and Zanu PF continue to side-line us yet we cooked for and fed the freedom fighters during the armed struggle.  We also provided the fighters with shelter, clothing and carried their weapons under very harsh conditions. Some collaborators also died while in service of the struggle,” said Memory Muteve, a war collaborator.

She told the meeting, which was being chaired by Zanu PF Mashonaland East provincial chairperson, Joel Biggie Matiza that most war collaborators were facing hardships and were failing to send children to school and accessing food, farming inputs and health services.

“Some of our colleagues died as paupers. We have nothing to show for the role we played in liberating this country.  Yet, our fellow comrades classified as war veterans are receiving monthly pensions and are being assisted with school fees for their children.  When they die, the war veterans receive state-assisted funerals, but we get nothing,” added Muteve.

The meeting chaired by the party’s chairperson for Mashonaland East Province, Joel Biggie Matiza was aimed at campaigning for Rambidzai Nyabote a parliamentary candidate in the Mutoko by-election.

Matiza promised to pass on the war collaborators’ grievances to the minister in charge of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri. He, however, urged them not to give up on the party but to continue working tirelessly to ensure it won the by-election.