Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the fact that the government of Zimbabwe’s obligation to pay the pensions owed to former Rhodesian or Zimbabwean public servants has not been fulfilled, what assessment they have made of their obligation to assist those former servants of the Crown; what assessment they have made of the case for making ex gratia payments to those former public servants without prejudice, either from development aid or other funds, in the light of the practice of protecting the pensions of officers employed on expatriate terms in other former dependent territories; and what, if any, assessment they have made of the cost of making such ex gratia payments.

The UK’s pension protection arrangements in Zimbabwe are confined to those officers who were recruited by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to serve in Southern Rhodesia on expatriate terms. For those recruited on expatriate terms, the UK provides direct pension support. We continue to be clear that the UK does not have legal or moral responsibility for Southern Rhodesian civil service pensions. This responsibility lies solely with the Government of Zimbabwe.