Staff Reporter
CHIREDZI–4 Infantry Brigade commander Brigadier General Ephias Mahachi has urged the people of Chiredzi to avail more personnel during army recruitment programmes saying the district was failing to meet its target every year.
Mahachi was speaking at the commissioning of two classroom blocks that were constructed by Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) personnel with the local community providing labour at Monyoroka Primary School in ward 27 of Chiredzi.
He said ZNA recruit in a manner that reflects that it is a people’s army hence it should be representative of people from all parts of the country.
“To show that we are an army of the people, we need to recruit from the people. When we recruit, we look at the number of soldiers we want. We divide that number by 10 provinces we have in the country. We take the provincial number and divide it with the number of districts. That way, the army becomes a reflection of the whole country’s population.
“Here in Chiredzi, we used to have a challenge where we fail to get the required number from the district. You were not sending enough people. However, this year it was better but still you failed to meet the target. We wanted only 40 recruits from Chiredzi but you failed to meet that smaller number and we only got 27.
“So next time, I urge you to avail more people so that we fulfil our mandate. We don’t want our army to be one sided,” said Mahachi.
He said it was the army’s duty to assist communities during peace times like constructing schools, clinics and bridges which is a duty enshrined in the constitution.
“We are expected to do this as a way of thanking your sacrifices during the liberation struggle. We are different from yester year armies, we are an army of the people which comes from the people, so we come back to you when you need assistance,” he added.
He said on the Monyoroka project, they were called by the local MP Farai Musikavanhu and they will always come to do more if they are called for further development.
Recently ZNA commissioned Neromwe clinic in Chiredzi and have been doing more outreach programmes around the province during the Defence Forces commemorations week.
