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Harare – Zimbabwe’s ex-deputy President Joice Mujuru has reportedly claimed that she was also not given her retirement benefits after she was sacked by former president Robert Mugabe in 2014.
According to New Zimbabwe.com, Mujuru had been in government for more than three decades and was a deputy president for 10 years.
She said that after being sacked by long-time leader Mugabe in 2014, the state withdrew all “state funded benefits” which included her security staff.
House belonged to family
The former vice president who would have been the first to receive state benefits after being kicked out of government by former president Mugabe says she had never stayed in a government owned house.
She said all the houses that she had stayed in since being a young minister in the 1980s had been bought by herself and her late husband General Solomon Mujuru.
She added that she nearly got evicted from her Chisipite residency after some unidentified people thought it was a state house, but luckily her lawyer who had assisted in buying the house brought all the evidence that the house belonged to her family.
“The people who wanted to repossess the house thought it was a government property and wanted me to vacate it and make way for then VP (Phelekezela) Mphoko who was staying in a hotel. I have read about it that I am receiving benefits from the state as a former VP, but to tell the truth I am only getting my pension as a former government employee because I contributed to that, “Mujuru was cited as saying.
Official business
Mujuru’s remarks came after reports indicated that authorities had remained mum over the pension of former vice president Mphoko.
The country's former liberation fighters, however, claimed that the Mphoko deserted his government position and as a result did not deserve state benefits.
Mphoko lost his job after the new administration led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over following the resignation of ex-president Mugabe in November.
Mphoko was the second deputy appointed in 2014 by Mugabe, along with current President Mnangagwa.
He had flown to Japan on official business the day before the army took over the country in an operation that culminated in Mugabe's ouster.
But instead of returning home at the end of his mission, Mphoko sought sanctuary in Botswana.
He, however, eventually returned home a few days later and after some time, reportedly demanded an exit package.
Police guard
Mphoko's demand came after Mnangagwa officially gazetted Mugabe's exit package, which included first class air travel on four foreign trips per year; private houses and a veritable army of aides and domestic staff.
An opposition leader, who was also Mphoko's lawyer, Welshman Ncube, said that they were still awaiting a government response over the matter.
"We have written to the government pointing out the constitutional obligation that they have to the former vice president Mphoko. We drew their attention to the clauses in the Constitution … as things stand they are giving him all his other benefits in terms of his security, his close security, his police guard, they are all in place.
"We await for them to process his pension, his allowances in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe," Ncube was quoted as saying.
