acting chief executive officer, Samuel Mavuti on Wednesday confirmed to CAJ News that minister without portfolio, Elliot Manyika had written to the national grain utility asking for details of current maize stocks.
“We have received stocks amounting to about 200 000 tonnes over the past couple of weeks and we expect more from the imports side,” he said.
“Government has asked for details on maize stocks and that we should work with them in the handling as well as distribution
of the maize in order to ensure the whole nation is covered.”
CAJ News has heard from Zanu (PF) insiders that Manyika was tasked at a recent politburo meeting to handle the stocks of maize in the hands of the GMB and has already started preparing teams comprising Zanu (PF) militia, which will do the distribution.
It is expected that only ruling party officials will benefit from the food aid as has been the case in the past when Zanu (PF) used aid to campaign ahead of elections.
Manyika, who is the ruling party’s political commissar, confirmed that “we want to ensure everything is done in the proper ways and the whole nation benefits”.
Muvuti said in addition to the import stocks, the GMB already has 500 000 tonnes of maize, which he claimed have come from local produce and other imports.
The World Food Programme has said that more than 6 million Zimbabweans are in need of food aid after yet another season of pathetically low yields due to the combination of the dip-seated effects of chaotic agrarian reforms and poor rainfall patterns.
The country braces for a combined presidential and parliamentary poll next year, which observers say has stakes high due to the fierce battle for political survival by President Robert Mugabe and his party yet the economy is in an unprecedented recession- CAJ News.
Post published in: Economy