AS the nation readies to celebrate 43 years of Independence from colonial rule, widows of war veterans are optimistic that their concerns will be addressed by the Government.
Following the significant amount of sacrifice that their late husbands put into liberating the country, the widows feel they need to be empowered more so that they adequately fend for the families.
Bulawayo alone has about 1 500 widows of liberation heroes and veterans who say they need assistance to better the lives of their families following the death of their husbands. Zimbabwe National Liberation of Fallen Heroes Widows and Widowers Association Bulawayo Provincial Chairlady Mrs Opher Ncube said widows and widowers were concerned that pensions were taking long to be processed.
“Those widows whose husbands did not get a chance to be vetted had to cater for their children’s welfare and education from their own pockets,” she lamented.
Mrs Ncube indicated that there were three groups of widows and widowers.
“The first group is composed of those who had their spouses vetted and are getting some pension. Then there are those whose spouses died before vetting in 1997 and were declared and accorded various hero statuses. These are getting their pension from the Department of Social Welfare which is less than that given to those who had their spouses vetted,” she explained.
However, Mrs Ncube said there is a category of widows who processed their husband’s paperwork as per Government requirements in order for them to access pensions but were not receiving any pension as yet. She highlighted that they need assistance in terms of projects such as poultry, horticulture, cattle ranching, and detergent making in order to generate income to send their children to school and university.
“As widows and widowers of Bulawayo, we sat down and came up with our farming project and we have secured land in Nyamandlovu to start a farming project but most of the widows failed to join the farming project as a result of financial problems,” she said.
Mrs Ncube said being a wife to a freedom fighter was tough. – Sunday News
