Vice President John Nkomo pockets two salaries

John Nkomo

Vice president John Nkomo is drawing two government salaries after he failed to relinquish his post at the organ on national healing and reconciliation following his appointment to the presidency last year, it has emerged.

Sources at the Finance Ministry, which handles government salaries, confirmed that Nkomo was being paid as chairman of the organ and also as Vice President.

Figures were not immediately available. However, while official salaries of the Presidents are pegged at US$300 per month, they receive millions of dollars in allowances and other benefits every year, including free housing in state mansions with armies of servants as well as transport, food, security, and education for children.

Apparently, the MDC has not questioned why Nkomo is clinging to the national healing post, which he assumed as an appointee of Zanu (PF) when the coalition government was formed last year. The position is equivalent to that of a government minister.

Zanu (PF) has routinely rewarded its faithfuls by allowing them to continue drawing salaries for posts they have left. Vice president Joice Mujuru was paid for several years for the Water Ministry portfolio which she left when she was elevated following the death of Joshua Nkomo. Several other officials, especially those in the military and security services were also known to be getting paid for doing nothing, living in government houses and clinging to state assets such as vehicles, computers and cellphones.

Nkomo is, however, still performing his duties as national healing organ chair. Last week, he finally brought together feuding leaders of the Anglican church, months after the organ was asked to intervene. According to sources on the organ, Nkomo was now too busy with Presidential assignments to function effectively as organ chairman.

Many believe it is no longer appropriate for Nkomo to continue as chairman of the organ as he sometimes acts as President, with final say, for example on the fate of people who have committed serious crimes like murder during political campaigns.
The organ has proved ineffective in resolving the tensions generated by the murder of hundreds of MDC supporters by President Robert Mugabe's forces during elections in 2008.

The organ was created to facilitate dialogue between the perpetrators and the victims and to ensure justice prevails but has so far failed in that task. Instead, the organ has been accused of wasting public funds on consultations with traditional healers expected to "cleanse" the killers, many of whom have developed psychological problems following the murders.

The MDC is now frantically trying to set up a truth commission through parliament. During the last session, the party's chief whip Innocent Gonese presented a report in parliament confirming that 253 party supporters were murdered by Mugabe's militias and members of the security forces during the last elections, while 10 000 were seriously injured and thousands more made homeless. Gonese called for an investigation into the atrocities. Efforts to get comment from Nkomo's officials were unsuccessful.