The MDC councillor for Ward 19 in Zaka Peter Imbayarwo has
been barred from distributing food aid and Presidential inputs as Zanu PF has
now taken full control of welfare allocation in Masvingo Province.
Imbayarwo confirmed the development in an interview with
The Mirror and said politicisation of food was more brazen now than it was at
the time of the late Mugabe.
Zaka District Development Co-ordinator Victor Zinhanga
confirmed that villagers were putting on party regalia during food
distribution. He said this was because Zimbabweans have become so poor they
have nothing else to wear.
A United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food ,
Hilal Elver who toured Zimbabwe in the last few weeks has made a scathing
attack on Zimbabwe’s politicisation of food and her partial report that was
released in Harare on Thursday last week identified Masvingo as one of the
worst affected provinces.
Elver said a full report on her investigations is going to
be released in March next year and the negative findings are likely to affect
Zimbabwe’s campaign to have sanctions lifted against it.
Zanu PF denies certain Zimbabweans aid despite that the
food and seed is bought using the tax payer’s money contributed to by all
citizens.
“They told me that the food aid was sourced by President
Mnangagwa and I and any perceived MDC supporters can only get aid from
opposition leader Chamisa.
“They said izvi ndezva ED (this aid belongs to ED). All aid
allocations in the district now
takes place while beneficiaries are putting on
party regalia and are chanting party slogans and threatening opposition
supporters with death.
“This happens while the Police is there,” said Imbayarwo.
He said that on November 19 this year at Old N Richards at
Jerera Growth Point only 500 out of 8000 households eligible for the
presidential inputs benefited and these were chosen on party lines.
He said before the distribution of the inputs Zanu PF local
leadership led by ward chairman Milton Chikwenhere and women’s league
chairperson Juliet Chari chanted slogans. The matter was reported to the Police
but there is no action that has been taken up to now.
Chikwenehre said he was driving and would call later when
approached for comment. He however did not return thr call until te time of
going to Press.
Chari could not be reached for comment by the time of going
to Press.
“The rule here is that you don’t benefit from Government
aid as long as you are an MDC supporter. In the past MDC supporters would be
allowed to attend the food distribution meetings but since Mnangagwa got into
power MDC supporters are barred from places where allocations take place.
“I as a councillor who has a mandate to allocate food
together with village heads has since been barred,” said Imbayarwo.
He said that he reported the matter to Zinhanga but he is
afraid to act.
Zinhanga however said that he never received such reports
although the UN report confirms in its report that Zaka is one of the districts
where politicisation of food is rampant.
“I have never received any complaints from anyone. One
thing that you should understand is the inputs are not enough and it could be
those who didn’t get who are raising complaints.
“As for people who wear regalia during distribution it’s
true because people are poor and ndidzo nhumbi dzavo idzodzo, they cannot wear
any regalia because havana hembe dzomumusha, for more information you can talk
to Dhliwayo the acting DDC,” said Zinhanga.
At the last distribution Imbayago said an 80 year old
grandpa (name withheld for fear of victimisation) believed to be an MDC
sympathiser had his name struck off despite that the village head had approved
it.
The elderly man reported the case to Legal Resources
Foundation who undertook to represent him in court. When Social Welfare
officers heard about it they persuaded him to withdraw the case. They also
advised him to send his grandson to collect his share on his behalf so that the
Zanu PF local leaders would not know that he received food.
Social welfare representative in Zaka, Mausha could not be
reached for comment. Masvingo Mirror
0 comments:
Post a Comment