SEVERAL recalled Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislators have written to the Clerk of Parliament demanding their gratuities and pensions amid concerns over delays in processing them in an inflationary environment.
Some of the concerned legislators are former Bulawayo senator Gideon Shoko, Helen Mpofu, Machirairwa Mugidho, Evidence Zana, Janet Dube, Desmond Makaza and Stabile Mlilo.
Shoko yesterday told Southern Eye that he was in Parliament from 2013 to 2018 and was retained in the 2018 elections until two years later.
He said he was recalled by Thokozani Khupe and Douglas Mwonzora in 2020 when he was MDC-T senator.
“I bounced back in 2023 through the CCC ticket and got recalled around October 2023 by Sengezo Tshabangu. When I left in all these times after being in Parliament for all that period, I did not claim gratuity,” Shoko said.
“I understand that after a legislator has served in Parliament for less than 10 years, he/she is entitled to a gratuity. Unfortunately I am not privy to the calculations. I also heard that if a legislator serves two five-year terms, he or she is entitled to a pension.”
Shoko said he approached Parliament in June over the issue.
“I travelled from Bulawayo to Harare on June 6 to drop the needed documents and bank accounts. Parliament told me they passed on my papers for payment to the Pensions Office and that office confirmed receiving my papers on June 17,” he said.
- Chamisa party defiant after ban
- Village Rhapsody: How Zimbabwe can improve governance
- News in depth: Partisan police force persecutes opposition, shields Zanu PF rogue elements
- Chamisa chilling death threat bishop defiant
Keep Reading
“My complaint is my claim has taken more than two months without being processed and what it means is because of inflation, this money is losing value daily.”
Indications are that Mpofu and the wife of late legislator Victor Mapungwane, who passed away in 2017, are still to receive their gratuities.
It is reported that Zana, Dube, Makaza and Mlilo applied for gratuities early August after their recalls in October 2023 and they have also not been paid.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda could neither confirm nor deny the claims, saying if they have challenges, they should approach Parliament.
“Surely, if they have challenges or problems, they have my number or they can come to my office,” Chokuda said.
“I do a lot of things I would not know offhand if I have their issue, that is why I am saying if they have challenges, they have my number.”
