Zanu (PF) has often politicised the distribution of food aid. Card-carrying party members receive priority and perceived opponents of the state are blocked from rendering assistance. US ambassador, Bruce Wharton, was last week harassed by a band of Zanu (PF) supporters as he attempted to engage Binga women who run various self-help projects – and this despite government’s neglect of the region.
Often, government officials distribute grain while clad in Zanu (PF) regalia, baring the face of R Mugabe, attempting to present the president as messiah – yet he is culpable for all the hunger. Even state-sponsored farming inputs are distributed under the Mugabe banner – ‘the Presidential Farming Inputs Scheme’ – as if the president personally walked into the Farmers Co-op and emerged with bags of maize seed slumped over his 91-year-old shoulders.
History has a cruel knack of repeating itself. From VP Mnangagwa’s Women’s Day address, there are signs that donor food will again be politicised: ‘Government has plans to provide food in those (affected) regions so that no family will face starvation. Our structure is such that in every village ward there is a councillor, or one of us from Zanu (PF).’
In one sentence, Mnangagwa issues both reassurance and a likely threat that if you don’t belong to the party, prepare to go hungry.
Post published in: Analysis