‘Government says Zimbabwe embassies face eviction worldwide’-boo hoo, -who cares!

‘ZIMBABWE’ S embassies across the globe are in a financial mess, facing eviction’-Foreign Affairs ministry.
According to the letter to heads of mission and consul generals dated April 21, some embassies were facing eviction.
The head of the President’ s Secretariat in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Ambassador Raphael Faranisi, on behalf of the secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Trade, in the letter said the embassies had not been funded for a long time.
“Head office is aware of the dire financial situation prevailing at missions which has made life difficult for diplomats and stifled mission operations. Most of our missions are facing litigation while others are facing serious eviction threats. Mission operational costs have not been funded in a long time amid growing salary arrears.
“This has come as a result of the inadequate and inconsistent reimbursement releases by Treasury coupled with the lack of the requisite Nostro funding support from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to transmit the funds to missions. To date, all releases from Treasury have been Nostro funded by the RBZ in batches and the same pattern follows with reimbursement to missions. Missions have therefore not been able to receive reimbursements at the same time,” Faranisi wrote.

The government yesterday told the Daily News on Sunday that the issue had been discussed last week.While referring questions on the matter to Foreign Affairs ministry secretary James Manzou, Foreign Affairs deputy minister David Musabayana said the major issue affecting the funding of the embassies was the shortage of foreign currency.
“The issue was discussed last week and they were running around to fix the issue. There were some challenges with foreign currency, but at the moment I am not in Harare, so I am not sure of the current position,” Musabayana said.
In the letter, Faranisi said the ministry continued to engage Treasury and all the relevant authorities to enable a return to normalcy at the embassies.
“The ministry continues to engage Treasury and all the relevant authorities to enable a return to normalcy at missions through the provision of a substantial reimbursement for the clearance of all outstanding operational and salary arrears.
“Meanwhile, head office is in the process of disbursing US$10 000 Covid-19 contingency funds to all missions in light of the menacing pandemic,” he said. – Daily News