---

Zimbabwe: Public Servants

My Lords, I have no hesitation in supporting my noble friend Lord Waddington in his persistent, determined and just concern for the case of the Crown servants who worked in Rhodesia and who have been denied the pensions guaranteed under the 1980 independence constitution. Each day at the beginning of our deliberations in this House, we pray that we may uphold the maintenance of justice. How can we listen to those words and yet deny basic justice to the servants of the Crown? Perhaps it is reasonable of me to remind noble Lords that Members of the other place have no hesitation in voting themselves large increases in salary with the resulting increase in their pensions. I know that the Minister would probably say that it is a contributory pension scheme. Yes, of course it is, but the net result is that they are improving their ultimate pension each time they vote themselves a salary increase. In addition, I am told that once an MP retires, his or her pension will be increased by precisely the same percentage increase pertaining to the salary voted by the MPs for themselves. Compared with the plight of the loyal servants of the Crown who we are discussing, that is appalling. Is it fair? Does this fall within the phrase ““the maintenance of justice””? Unlike public servants in this country, the Crown servants in Rhodesia did contribute to their pensions. That makes the attitude of Her Majesty's Government even more unacceptable. As my noble friend said, the amounts involved are minuscule in comparison with the overruns, mistakes and expenditure wasted on projects abandoned by the Government in the past 10 years. Perhaps those noble Lords present should look at page 10 of today's Daily Telegraph where it details payments of £38 million handed out to managers involved in the National Health Service funding crisis. Contrast that £38 million with the £2 million that these pensioners need; a quantum that is diminishing every day. We also have only to look at the documents that come to us ever increasingly from the UK National Audit Office, which should receive more scrutiny than they do in this House. Believe me, they do not add up to an endorsement of the Government being careful with taxpayers’ money. Sadly, the Rhodesia Crown servants do not have a powerful voice. They do not have a militant trade union forcing the issue. In effect, robust as he is—and he is certainly a tiger in his attitude when faced with injustice—it seems that they have only my noble friend Lord Waddington fighting for them. My noble friend has taken up the cudgels on behalf of these unfortunate people of pensionable age and has told the House in the past and on many occasions the history of the sorry saga. Some of it bears repetition. When a governor was appointed after UDI, the Order in Council reaffirmed Southern Rhodesia’s status as a British colony. A constitution for an independent Zimbabwe was negotiated, including a good provision on the remittance of pensions to persons not ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe. The then Minister stated that there were full safeguards for public service pensions and their ability to be remitted. With the knowledge that all of us possess about the slide into chaos of that once wonderful country, it is no surprise that as the Zimbabwe dollar declined in value, so did the value of the pensions remitted by the Government of Zimbabwe. But in February 2003, four and a half years ago, payments from Zimbabwe stopped. What was the response of Her Majesty’s Government? They put forward a range of reasons for why they were not prepared to honour their responsibilities. Where is justice in this? I ask the Minister to justify this action and if he cannot to do something about it. Perhaps he would like to use his skills, not least in eloquence, to take up the case with his right honourable and honourable friends, particularly the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It may be a pathetically small issue, amounting to a row of beans in the grand sums of our gross national product, but this country has an honourable reputation of standing by its principles. Our word used to be our bond and I sincerely hope that our Government will not besmirch that reputation by ignoring a grave injustice which can so easily be put right. Our reputation is in the hands of this Government. I make a plea to the Minister to do all that he can to ensure that this reputation is guarded and not further tarnished on his watch. We have heard stirring words from my noble friend Lord Waddington and the noble Lord, Lord Luce, to the effect that they will continue to battle for this cause, particularly from my noble friend who said that he would battle for as long as he has breath in his body. Surely, the Government must respond to this and in doing so commend my noble friend for the all efforts he has made and is still making to ensure that justice prevails.