Mnangagwa Assures Chiefs That They Are 'Entitled' To Cars, Other Benefits

President Mnangagwa yesterday met traditional chiefs in Kadoma where they are attending the national chiefs’ council conference. Mnangagwa was accompanied by his two Deputies, Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi. Several cabinet ministers were also in attendance. In his address to the chiefs, Mnangagwa said

In this second republic, the importance of chiefs is going to be upheld highly. There is a $310 million that has been budgeted for devolution next year. If you divide that by 10 provinces you will realise that each province will get $31 million. Now, every chief comes from a particular area of a province. So what I am saying is that as chiefs of a particular province, sit down and discuss among yourselves how much of that money will go towards your welfare. That way the grievances on increases of allowances and fuel allocations will be solved.

Your packages are different from those of civil servants because you are part of the governance structure. So you will find out even if a pastor preaches how good, they will not be given cars by the government. But you will get them because it is your entitlement. Your welfare is clearly spelt out in the Constitution.

That exercise is past now, but we have a land audit going on where we are repossessing land lying idle and cutting to size farms that are more than 500 hectares each. On the other hand, we are repossessing farms from multiple owners. Accordingly, all the chiefs who do not have land will get it from the farms we are taking in the process of the audit.

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