Zimbabwe has secured maize from Uganda after President
Emmerson Mnangagwa engaged President Yoweri Museveni on the sidelines of the
recently ended 33rd Ordinary Summit of the African Union in Ethiopia.
A delegation led by Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural
Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri travelled to the East African country to
thrash out modalities of importing the grain.
President Mnangagwa revealed this on Friday at State House
in Bulawayo when he met civil society organisations from the Matabeleland
region.
“Fortunately, three or four days ago when we were in Addis
Ababa (Ethiopia) I was sitting with other Heads of State and President Museveni
of Uganda said to me, ‘President Mnangagwa, I understand you need maize in
Zimbabwe, I have plenty of it, come and collect’. So, I stood up from where I
was sitting and went to him and he told me he had surplus maize. Yesterday
(Thursday) I sent Minister Shiri to arrange the procurement of grain from
Uganda,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said the country was insulated from
drought for the past two seasons as it had surpluses in its grain reserves.
“This is the third year in drought, the effects of this
drought affect us directly. When we have a drought, food security in the
country is threatened because we have not produced enough to feed ourselves.
Fortunately, for the past two seasons we accumulated huge reserves which
accumulated at the time I personally introduced Command Agriculture,” he said.
“But those reserves, with this current drought, have been
exhausted and this is why we are now diverting all funds which had been
targeted for capital projects to procure grain to feed the people. This then
affects the implementation of developmental projects in the country because we
need people to survive.”
Erratic rainfall, added President Mnangagwa, was not just
affecting agriculture but power generation as well.
“We have experienced two droughts which have caused poor
power generation. The entire country had inadequate power and it had an impact
on agriculture, industry and people’s homes. This is making us get power from
our neighbours.”
During the meeting, the President also announced that this
year’s main Independence Day celebrations will be held in Bulawayo for the
first time.
“We have already made a decision that beginning this year
we will be holding our National Independence Day celebrations outside the City
of Harare. For 39 years independence celebrations were held in Harare, but I
realised that Independence is not for Hararians. As a result of that, we have
now chosen to celebrate our 40th year of independence in the city of Bulawayo,”
he said.
President Mnangagwa said this was in recognition of the
role Bulawayo played in the liberation struggle.
“The nationalism of this country was here, ana Burombo
(Benjamin) vakanga vari kuno. Furthermore, Bulawayo is the second-largest city
in our country. I am counting on all stakeholders in Bulawayo and the greater
Matabeleland region to ensure that our 40th Independence Day celebrations are a
historic and memorable success,” he said.
President Mnangagwa also touched on the Zambezi Water
Project and progress made so far.
“This gathering is working as a collective unit with
collaboration between civic society and Government, which has been seized with
developmental issues, one of which is the Zambezi Water Project. This project
has been there for many years but because it was raised here and is beginning
to move, so these are some of the benefits which come from conversation.
“I am happy to announce that considerable progress has been
made towards the implementation of this project through discussions that have
been made between Government and civil society. I am informed by the
Attorney-General’s Office that it has complied a draft agreement between the
Government and the affected communities of the region gathering the rules and
parameters of the implementation of the project,” he said.
The meeting with civil society organisations was a
follow-up meeting after the President met the same group last year in March.
President Mnangagwa said the Second Republic believes in
dialogue.
“The cornerstone of the Second Republic is the deployment
of dialogue as a means of resolving issues of conflict that may arise amongst
us and the sharing of knowledge around us as Zimbabweans. We have demonstrated
that we are capable of solving even the most acrimonious disputes among us
amicably through internal dialogue and negotiations.
‘‘I have no doubt that the problems raised by this dialogue
in March last year can and will be resolved in the same method that has brought
us success before, which is dialogue and conversation.” Sunday Mail
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