HARARE – An ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa who made millions of dollars from the state through an opaque scheme to drill boreholes for war veterans has signed a controversial new agreement with the government to provide 50,000 housing stands to be parcelled out to ex-combatants.
Paul Tungwarara is officially a presidential adviser on investment. He has however been noted for his rapacious accumulation of state contracts without competitive bidding.
He has come up with various schemes all prefaced with “Presidential” – giving an impression that his actions are with Mnangagwa’s authority.
His latest is the Presidential Stands for Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Programme, under which his company Prevail Group will secure 50,000 stands across the country through the local government ministry, service them and then hand them out to 50,000 “war veterans.”
The government’s own estimates, however, suggest there could be less than 30,000 surviving war veterans – raising questions about some of the intended beneficiaries of Tungwarara’s scheme.
And coming 45 years after the liberation war ended, questions are being asked about the timing of the programme especially as most of the war veterans are too old and too poor to build on the housing stands, if they get them.
The programme appears aimed at pacifying war veterans who have spoken out about living their last days in poverty and demanded Mnangagwa’s resignation.
Mnangagwa wants war veterans on his side ahead of his planned push to stay in power beyond the two terms permitted under the constitution expiring in 2028, possibly stretching his stay in power to 2030.
Tungwarara’s new scheme was consumated in Harare on Wednesday where he signed documents with local government minister Daniel Garwe and war veterans minister Monica Mavhunga.
Mavhunga said Mnangagwa’s government was “concerned about the welfare of veterans” while promising that “we’re going to do the programme transparently.”
Under the Presidential War Veterans Borehole Scheme, Tungwarara’s company committed to drill 35,000 boreholes at the homes of war veterans.
Before that project was completed, Tungwarara had launched the ‘Presidential War Veterans Housing Scheme’ with an ambitious plan to build modern houses at the homes of war veterans.
There were others, like the Presidential War Veterans Fund which saw Tungwarara crisscrossing the country carrying wads of cash under a scheme to distribute $1,5 million to all 10 provinces through which war veterans would access “interest free loans” to start businesses.
Tungwarara has a more personal project, the Presidential Solar Programme through which the government would connect 200,000 households to solar power in the first phase. The programme is yet to take off.
