ZIMBABWE will splash millions of dollars on 12 military aircraft from China, parliament heard Tuesday.
Six of the 12 aircraft are already in the country, with the remainder set to be delivered in two months, defence officials said.
Ministry of Defence Permanent Secretary Trust Maphosa made the revelations during a hearing of the joint Senate and House of Assembly Parliamentary portfolio committee on defence and home affairs.
Maphosa was part of a high powered army delegation that included army commander general Constantine Chiwenga and Airforce of Zimbabwe chief Air Marshall Perence Shiri.
The total cost of the deal with China is unknown, but defence officials revealed a payment of US$4,6 million had been made to the Chinese manufacturers of the aircraft.
The army officials did not disclose the types of aircraft acquired.
Maphosa said: “We are grateful to the RBZ governor Gideon Gono for availing US$4 669 065,72 towards our plan. We will be receiving six aircraft from China sometime this year."
He added: “We are expecting that deliveries would be made in September or October. The six together with the other six we already have would make a full squadron."
Several western countries, notably Britain, have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe over complaints about human rights violations in the southern African country.
President Robert Mugabe has reacted to the targeted sanctions on his regime by urging the country to 'Look East', reference to Asian countries which have pledged their support to his regime.
Chiwenga told the same hearing that the army was acting on reports of rampant indiscipline within its ranks. Several reports have been made of army details brutalising civilians.
Chiwenga blamed the violence on younger members of the defence forces whom he said “liked behaving as cowboys”.
He said the Military Police were carrying out a probe on the recent assaults on commuter omnibus drivers and touts by members of his force in Harare Central Business District (CBD).
He added that another army commander in Matabeleland had been transferred and disciplined after assaulting a civilian who had missed a deadline during joint work on Operation Maguta.
