Although he could not release the names of the deceased due to what he said were ethical considerations, Hamandishe said he had attended the funeral wakes of all the victims, with the lattest one being the death of a 50-year old man from Makumbe village under Chief Gadzingo last Thursday.
“I have attended the funeral wakes of all these people as the MP for that area, and I can testify that even in the courts. I cannot however release the names of the deceased, but I can assure you that it was a serious food deficit that led them to succumb to malnutrition and kwashiokar,” said Hamandishe.
Masvingo Province is a drought prone even during years of bumper harvests, villagers to fill bushels to last them through the dry season.
The MDC Member of Parliament (MP), who trounced ZANU PF”s Frank Machinya, said the girl- who was an orphan under the care of her ageing grandmother, died of kwashiokar last month.
“I felt so bad when I learnt of the death of the three year old, who was under the custodisnship of her grandmother, who is also a potential candidate for food aid. If only I knew of her predicament, I could have helped with food for the orphan,” Hamandishe said.
While government officials admitted that the food situation in the rurals areas is so dire, they however denied that some people had either succumbed to hunger related disease, or starved to death.
“It is true that there is a food deficit in the district, but to say that the hunger has caused some deaths would be an overstatement. I am yet to learn of such deaths,” said Gutu District Administrator, Evyline Muzenda.
More than two million people in the province are seriously in need of food aid following six consecutive years of food shortages owing to bad agricultural policies, poor rains and lack of farming inputs.
The Red Cross, another humanitarian organisation, is currently giving food handouts to 1 400 HIV positive people under its Home-Based Care (HBC), amid reports that some HIV negative urbanites are faking to be HIV positive in order to be eligible for the program.
Zimbabweans eat twenty times less than they need following acute food shortages that have ravaged most parts of the country, leaving many in the rural areas who are on the brink of starvation scrounging for wild fruits at night in a bid to wad off competition from wild animals.
Harare Tribune