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'Zim soldiers not starving'
25/05/2007 18:45 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's soldiers are not starving, a government minister was quoted as saying on Friday, refuting press reports the army was running out of food and might have to suspend training of recruits.
"It is not true that the soldiers are starving as reported," said deputy information minister Bright Matonga.
"We have a robust army and we do not have soldiers who are starving," he added in comments carried by the official Herald newspaper.
Reports in a private weekly said Zimbabwe's secretary for defence Trust Maphosa told a parliamentary committee that soldiers were disgruntled over poor pay and conditions.
A private in Zimbabwe's army earns only $300 000 a month, a figure worth around $10 on the widely-used parallel market for foreign currency.
That salary is lower than many being offered in the private sector and less, in some cases, than that earned by domestic workers in high-income areas.
Rampant inflation of more than 3 700% has wreaked its worst on many Zimbabwean professionals, who are leaving the country in droves.
'Positive' response
While the central bank governor Gideon Gono this week urged private companies to up their workers salaries, saying paltry pay encouraged corruption, so far the authorities appear unwilling to cater for civil servants' wage demands.
According to Zimbabwe's Financial Gazette newspaper on Thursday, Maphosa catalogued a litany of army complaints, including the cutting-off of water supplies to military installations because of unpaid bills and the failure of a farming project due to lack of funding.
The deputy minister claimed that Maphosa had been misquoted. "He did not say that the soldiers were starving but highlighted the need for a quick response by Treasury on the issue," Matonga said.
"Treasury has responded very positively and funds have been released," he added.
- Sapa-dpa
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