Zimbabwean
8 September 2011
By Fungai Kwaramba
Zimbabweans from all walks of life last week demanded that government officials who got luxury vehicles at a combined cost of US$20 million return them and use the money for poverty reduction.
Through the People Charter, a petition was signed and submitted to the Minister of Finance Tendai Biti, Higher Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Henry Madzorera, The Minister of Education, David Coltart, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Dr. Stan Mudenge, and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Lovemore Moyo.
The petitioners said that they were disappointed by the government’s unfortunate demonstration of opulence amidst poverty via the recent purchase of luxury vehicles for cabinet ministers and their deputies.
The ministers including their deputies and permanent secretaries got Range Rover vehicles at a time when thousands in the country are wallowing in poverty.
“We hereby petition the government to return the luxury vehicles and acquire a reimbursement of the US$20 million resources and to reallocate the resources that had been used to purchase these vehicles to the Ministries of Health, Education, and Higher and Tertiary Education in order to purchase medicine and books for our hospitals, schools, colleges and universities.
“While Zimbabweans are struggling to set a meal on the table, the government has been nothing but extravagant with ministers,†the petition reads.
In a statement the petitioners said that they want an urgent response from the government.
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Note from Senator David Coltart:
I issued a brief statement regarding this matter on the 15th August 2011 when the Daily News first ran the story. I repeat it below:
“For the record as far as the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture is concerned the following is the factual situation: I declined the offer of acquiring for the Ministry a Land Rover Discovery or Jeep Cherokee but agreed that the Ministry could acquire a Toyota Prado to replace its 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero which had reached the end of its economic life. This vehicle is a Ministry vehicle and will remain so.”
