PARLIAMENT has been told that Zimbabwean diplomats in foreign missions are living in squalid conditions that have forced some of them to desert their houses as they are now health hazards.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs has recommended that treasury allocates resources towards the purchase and construction of properties for use by Zimbabwean foreign missions across the globe.

The committee made the recommendation after noting that Zimbabwe does not own any properties in at least 20 countries in which it has foreign missions, a situation that has resulted in treasury running an unsustainable bill accruing from rentals and other services offered to the missions.

Also in parliament, the Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement said the money allocated for the importation of maize to boost the strategic grain reserve must be channeled towards other capital projects because the country has enough stocks to feed the nation in 2019.

— ZBC