ZIMBABWE People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) ex-combatants have launched a trust fund to raise fees for underprivileged pupils in all parts of the country.
By NQOBANI NDLOVU
The ex-fighters said the money would be mobilised under the Lalangwe, Mbambangwe Memorial Trust, which was launched last year in honour of the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo.
The trust’s chairperson, Linganiso Mdabuko Nyathi, told Southern Eye the programme was aimed at complementing government’s social welfare programmes such as the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam).
“The vision of the late Father Zimbabwe and nationalist was to see people of Zimbabwe united, to make sure that no child fails to attend school because they are orphans or their parents are bedridden,” Nyathi said.
“The purpose of this trust is to make sure that every child has access to education without discrimination. This is an initiative of war veterans and while we are independently mobilising resources, we remain open to any other kind of assistance to help the underprivileged in our society.”
The initiative came amid reports that the government has failed to pay tuition fees for thousands of pupils under Beam since 2014.
“This is the reason we are now coming in with this initiative, as the government is already overburdened as seen by its failure to pay the Beam dues on time,” Nyathi said.
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The trust, led by a seven-member board, has also said it would be documenting all political developments that took place before and after independence.
