Government spokesman Themba Maseko said a special team led by the departments of agriculture, foreign affairs and national treasury would work with other southern African countries on the emergency farm rescue plan that comes on the back of this week’s signing of a power-sharing deal between Zimbabwe’s rival political leaders.
The deal, under which President Robert Mugabe retains his job while opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara become prime minister and deputy prime minister respectively, is seen as the first real opportunity for Zimbabwe to end a political and economic crisis afflicting the country for nearly 10 years.
“The agreement represents the beginning of a process of restoring peace and stability for the people of Zimbabwe, the SADC (Southern African Development
Community) region and the entire continent,” Maseko told journalists in Cape Town following Cabinet’s regular meeting on Wednesday.
Maseko said following the signing of the power-sharing agreement there was urgent need to begin the work to rebuild Zimbabwe’s shattered economy with immediate focus on the key agricultural sector and ensure food security.
Once a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe is reeling under severe food shortages that Mugabe blames on poor weather and Western sanctions that he says have hampered importation of fertilizers, seed, and other farming inputs.
But critics blame the food crisis on repression and wrong polices by the veteran leader such as his haphazard fast-track land reform exercise that displaced established white commercial farmers and replaced them with either incompetent or inadequately funded black farmers resulting in the country facing acute food shortages.
An economic recession marked by the world’s highest inflation rate of more than 11 million percent has exacerbated the food crisis.
With the government out of cash to import food, while many families that would normally be able to buy their own food supplies are unable to do so because of an increasingly worthless currency – international relief agencies have had to step in to help feed the hungry in Zimbabwe. – ZimOnline