Mugabe seeks to retain defense forces’ support after pay delays

Zimbabwe is trying to improve accommodation for the military, President Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday, in a bid to retain its support despite recent pay delays as the government goes through its tightest cash squeeze in seven years. The military has underpinned 92-year-old Mugabe’s often controversial rule over the southern African nation since it won […]

Zimbabwe is trying to improve accommodation for the military, President Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday, in a bid to retain its support despite recent pay delays as the government goes through its tightest cash squeeze in seven years.
The military has underpinned 92-year-old Mugabe’s often controversial rule over the southern African nation since it won independence from Britain in 1980.
But mounting economic woes have seen his government fail to pay soldiers, police and the other public workers who make up the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) on time in the last few months.
Mugabe did not comment on the pay delays in a speech to mark ZDF Day, but he said the forces had recently bought a new fleet of vehicles to carry troops, cars for its staff and buses to transport personnel to work.
“Efforts are still under way to provide decent accommodation to members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces,” he said, without giving details.