The Zimbabwean army plans to go on a massive recruitment drive next year because veterans of the 1970s war of independence are due to retire from active service, reports said this week.
Veterans of the guerrilla war that eventually ousted the white minority government and replaced it with President Robert Mugabe’s government in 1980 have comprised the highest-ranking officers in the army, state television reported late on Thursday.
Major General Engelbert Rugeje, a Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) chief of staff, told officers at a seminar in central Zimbabwe that there would be a void that has to be filled, the television report said.
”It is with this in mind that the ZNA intends to embark on a massive recruitment exercise next year to beef up the lower ranks of the army and prepare those in the middle ranks for the hand-over, take-over of the leadership of the army,” Rugeje was reported as saying.
In a bid to make military service more attractive, the authorities are also promising to raise soldiers’ salaries to keep them in line with the ever-rising cost of living and give them new uniforms, the report said.
Soldiers last had their salaries upped at the end of April to about Z$27-million a month (now worth only US$108 at the official exchange rate, much less at the parallel market rate).
The cash-strapped Zimbabwe government appears to be splashing out on the defence forces.
Despite biting shortages of foreign currency that often make it difficult for Zimbabwe to import fuel and medicine, the authorities have already paid out US$1,2-million to buy more than 100 vehicles for top army officials, according to the official Herald newspaper on Friday.
The 127 Mazda vehicles were paid for with funds secured from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the newspaper said.
And earlier this week, the authorities were reported to have bought another six jet fighters from China worth an estimated US$20-million each. — Sapa-dpa