BULAWAYO – The Bulawayo High Court has ordered the government to provide a retired major general with vehicles and a private residence in Harare matching the benefits attached to his rank.

Justice Mpokiseng Dube ruled that Major General (Retired) Godfrey Mupita was entitled to benefits for his rank after he was promoted from brigadier general to major general when he submitted his intention to retire.

Mupita retired from the army on October 30, 2020, after serving as Zimbabwe’s Defense Adviser in Nigeria from May 2006 to July 2016.

He approached the High Court after military authorities failed to provide him with benefits he claimed under the State Service (Pensions) (Uniformed Forces) (Amendment) Regulations, 2020, promulgated through Statutory Instrument 257 of 2020.

Mupita wanted the authorities to provide him with a Mercedes-Benz sedan and a Toyota Land Cruiser, or equivalent vehicles, issued to serving major generals.

He also sought to buy a rank-appropriate pickup truck at residual value and have a private residence built for him on a plot of up to 5,000 square meters in Harare.

The defense authorities accepted that he was entitled to residential accommodation, subject to the availability of resources, but opposed his claim for a Land Cruiser.

They argued that Mupita had effectively waived the entitlement by buying the Toyota Prado he had used while serving as a brigadier general.

Justice Dube rejected the argument, saying Mupita had been promoted to major general before his retirement and could not be treated as though he had retired as a brigadier general.

“In my view, the decider herein is the fact that when the Plaintiff submitted his intention to retire, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. He ceased to be a Brigadier General,” the judge ruled.

“To then hold that he waived his entitlements by purchasing an old Prado falling under the rank of a Brigadier General would be to deliberately deny him the exalted treatment S.I 257 of 2020 accords him as an active veteran of the liberation struggle.”

The judge said the law governing benefits for liberation war veterans had to be interpreted in a manner that protected, rather than reduced, their entitlements.

“Once an active ex-combatant attains a rank, he/she is entitled to the benefits that accrue to such rank and nothing less,” Justice Dube said.

The court ordered the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Service Commission and the Attorney General to jointly provide Mupita with a Mercedes-Benz sedan and Land Cruiser, or equivalent vehicles, issued to a serving major general.

They were also ordered to construct a private residence for him in Harare on land measuring no more than 5,000 square metres.

However, the judge dismissed Mupita’s claim to buy the pickup truck designated for a brigadier general, saying it did not correspond with his retired rank.

Mupita also failed to secure a punitive costs order against the state.

Justice Dube ordered each party to bear its own legal costs, finding that the military authorities had generally intended to comply with the regulations, subject to the availability of resources.