Mugabe’s Zanu PF Regime To Pay Armed Forces Bonuses First In November 2015, Because There Is No Money

Once again Mugabe’s Zanu PF regime has chosen the oppressive state machinery over the suffering masses.  The end of the year is traditionally a time when people gain some respite from their financial woes as they receive a thirteenth cheque in the form of a bonus.

In what many view as  the oppressive regime’s attempt to pacify an increasingly unsettled people in the run up to what is likely to be the toughest annual Zanu PF December congress because of the brutal factional wars in Zanu PF, the question of succession and the unchecked rise of Grace Mugabe who is  heading for the grand national post of  Zim1 office, the regime has chosen to reward the military first.

Mugabe’s government will pay out bonuses to the army and police in November then later on stagger bonus payments for the rest of the civil service.

The people of Zimbabwe were struggling to come to terms with the announcement made earlier on in 2015 by Zimbabwe’s Finance minister , Zanu PF ‘Patrick Chinamasa’ who said that  the government would no longer pay out annual bonuses  to the 500,000 plus civil servants in a bid to  to cut down the massive civil service wage bill which accrued to  more than 80 percent , actually  the bulk of government revenue.

The subsequent uproar that this caused, forced the regime to renege on this plan and  President Robert Mugabe who swiftly stepped in and castigated Chinamasa’s plan, while at the same time reversing the decision in April 2015.

To the discerning eye, rewarding the uniformed services, or state machinery, Mugabe’s weapons in crushing democracy and rough riding over the people’s will, is now a critical Zanu PF management tool in an uncertain era, particularly where the Zimbabwe national Army General Constantine Chiwenga has now shown his hand as someone backing the vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa  faction to succeed Mugabe in power. This does not board well with Mugabe’s plans as it totally derails his attempt at imposing his wife, the first lady Grace Mugabe as his successor.

In aproposal set to be presented before cabinet , the public service minister , Zanu PF Prisca Mupfumira claims the government proposal will see the  uniformed forces receiving bonuses in November followed by a staggered bonus distribution across the civil service because, the government is broke and has no money to cover the bonus budget in one go.

As we race towards the annual Zanu PF December congress for 2015 to be held in Victoria Falls from 7th to 13 December 2015, Mugabe needs the forces behind him. Forget the people, because,  happy armed forces service,are all  a dictator needs to silence any dissent. We all know that if these same oppressive forces had not been in place and managed to respond like well oiled machinery in 2008, when Mugabe , lost elections to Morgan Tsvangirai MDC T, the nation would be free and Mugabe would  be holed up somewhere  in the middle east or in the Hague.

Of course the state machinery would have none of that and we went through some of the most violent state instigated political violence post gukurahundi, resulting in mass forced exile, the maiming, killing and disappearance of opposition members and activists as the despot held onto power. God forbid that Mugabe is clandestinely attempting to prime his state machinery in the event of similar uprising , this time driven by Zanu PF factional wars and the rise of Grace, his overstay in power and a dead economy…….wake up Zimbabwe! By Sibusiso Ngwenya