Abstract
This think piece discusses the proposed policy on garrison shops designed for the members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to purchase subsidised groceries in their barracks, camps and cantonments. In mulling this policy intervention, the ruling executive-military alliance led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa was responding to the dire economic and social problems faced by the ordinary soldiers and police officers. It is common cause that the country is currently going through an economic recession that is adversely impacting on the ordinary Zimbabweans and the ordinary soldiers and police officers have not been spared. Notably, compared to their bosses, the rank and file officers’ incomes are far below the poverty datum line. The article, therefore, sets out to discuss the drivers, financing mechanisms and military budgets so as to locate the efficacy of the proposed garrison shops in the Government of Zimbabwe’s efforts to alleviate the plight of the security services sector. It concludes by gesturing towards the future of targeted, purposive, quantified and budgeted subsidies which benefit the poor, vulnerable and well-deserving cases against the current rent seeking subsidies in the security sector in Zimbabwe.
Highlights
In mulling this policy intervention, the ruling executive-military alliance led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa was responding to the dire economic and social problems faced by the ordinary soldiers and police officers
It is common cause that the country is currently going through an economic recession that is adversely impacting on the ordinary Zimbabweans and the ordinary soldiers and police officers have not been spared
The article discussed the proposed garrison shops policy in Zimbabwe meant to benefit the members of the security services in purchasing subsidised groceries in barracks, cantonments and camps to cushion them from the rising cost of living
Summary
The members of the state security services who earn a gross salary below the poverty datum line (ZWL9000 at the time of writing) while other civil servants like teachers are getting ZWL3500, have been struggling to eke a living (Kells, 2020; Matenga, 2020) This situation has been further worsened by the eruption of the coronavirus aka COVID-19 pandemic which has deepened the economic headwinds and upended the welfare of millions of people (Moyo, 2020a). Some observers note that if the situation of the military officers is not properly addressed, riots would set in and send the government system into a crisis with the possibility of an armed insurrection in the country (Mugabe, 2020) This think piece sets out to discuss the drivers, financing mechanisms and military budgets so as to locate the efficacy of the policy proposed on garrison shops as a policy response to the deepening plight of the members of the security sector in Zimbabwe. The rest of the article is structured as follows: Section 2 provides the contextual and conceptual contours of the paper; Section 3 discusses drivers and motives for the garrison shops policy; Section 4 addresses the financing of the policy; Sections 5, 6, and 7 discuss military expenditures, implications and recommendations respectively; while Section 8 concludes the discussion
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