President Mugabe orders reinstatement of 2 000 "Green Bombers"

Addressing Zanu-PF supporters in Chinhoyi on Saturday, President Robert Mugabe ordered the reinstatement of 2 000 youth officers saying that their dismissal did not have Cabinet approval.

Said Mugabe:

Zvino ndonzwa kuti mayouth amwe anga arikuhurumende achiita basa varikunzi vachadzingwa. (I am hearing that some youth members that were in Government were dismissed). Hatina kumboudzwa isu nyaya dzacho, and we don’t accept things like that. The economy is recovering: Is that the time we should be dismissing/expelling our youth? What are we demonstrating, treating young men like that? Tonzi tashaya mari iye zvino patiri kuti takuenda tichiva nehupfumi? Even kuma mines; our minerals are yielding now more and more revenue for us. More gold; more platinum; more chrome; more platinum, etcetera. Please, reinstate those youths. We never, never agreed on the issue of expelling so many youths, 2 000 of them. Saka, whether it is the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Labour, please stop it.

Mugabe’s order to reinstate the youth come at a time when Government’s wage bill is using 91% of revenue. There have been calls to cut the wage bill.

More: Herald