News / National
Mnangagwa's govt registers over 200 000 veterans of the liberation struggle
16 Mar 2023 at 12:04hrs | Views
Following the launch of the first phase of vetting of the veterans of the liberation struggle by President Mnangagwa in 2021, a total of 207 103 applicants registered for vetting by the end of that year while 150 434 were vetted by the end of 2022 leaving a balance of 56 669, Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri has said.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said this in an update on the implementation of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act that was enacted in 2020 to provide a holistic approach to the welfare of the veterans in their respective categories.
The law recognises the four categories of the veterans of the liberation struggle as provided for by the Constitution and they are; the war veterans, ex-political prisoners, detainees and restrictees, non-combatant cadres and war collaborators.
"A total of 207 103 applicants registered for vetting in 2021 and 150 434 were vetted in 2022, leaving a balance of 56 669. Statistically this means that 72 percent of veterans of all categories were vetted, implying that another 28 percent remain outstanding," she said.
The Minister said there were some veterans that did not register but turned up for the vetting exercise while others registered but did not turn up for vetting.
Of those vetted 121 185 were provisionally successful as their details were verified with the Registrar General's Office and their names would soon be gazetted for a period of 30 days to allow for any representations against their accreditation.
If there's no representations, they would be deemed accredited as Veterans of the Liberation Struggle.
She added that 29 249 were deemed not successful with 11 330 being unsuccessful on the account of age while 17 919 had inadequate personal information particularly identity documents.
The legal requirement on age is that one should have been 16 years by December 31, 1979.
Those with inadequate have been directed to provide more details to provincial and district field officers and on completion of the exercise their names will also be submitted to the RG's office for verification.
"Those who do not meet the age criteria will be disqualified whilst those who succeed will also be gazetted. Those who meet the vetting criteria will be included on the list of the successfully vetted veterans after their names are gazetted," Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said.
She added that the gazetting process was not a once off process but a continuous exercise.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said this in an update on the implementation of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act that was enacted in 2020 to provide a holistic approach to the welfare of the veterans in their respective categories.
The law recognises the four categories of the veterans of the liberation struggle as provided for by the Constitution and they are; the war veterans, ex-political prisoners, detainees and restrictees, non-combatant cadres and war collaborators.
"A total of 207 103 applicants registered for vetting in 2021 and 150 434 were vetted in 2022, leaving a balance of 56 669. Statistically this means that 72 percent of veterans of all categories were vetted, implying that another 28 percent remain outstanding," she said.
The Minister said there were some veterans that did not register but turned up for the vetting exercise while others registered but did not turn up for vetting.
Of those vetted 121 185 were provisionally successful as their details were verified with the Registrar General's Office and their names would soon be gazetted for a period of 30 days to allow for any representations against their accreditation.
If there's no representations, they would be deemed accredited as Veterans of the Liberation Struggle.
She added that 29 249 were deemed not successful with 11 330 being unsuccessful on the account of age while 17 919 had inadequate personal information particularly identity documents.
The legal requirement on age is that one should have been 16 years by December 31, 1979.
Those with inadequate have been directed to provide more details to provincial and district field officers and on completion of the exercise their names will also be submitted to the RG's office for verification.
"Those who do not meet the age criteria will be disqualified whilst those who succeed will also be gazetted. Those who meet the vetting criteria will be included on the list of the successfully vetted veterans after their names are gazetted," Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said.
She added that the gazetting process was not a once off process but a continuous exercise.
Source - The Herald
