350 Chimani families denied maize by ZPF chef at GMB
By Tererai Karimakwenda
16 May 2012
At least 350 starving families were recently denied maize seed under the
government’s grain loan scheme in Chimanimani, because officials at the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) refused to deal with their MDC-T councillor.
The GMB is required to release the maize to councillors who present a list
of needy families in their constituency, regardless of the political party
they support. The councillors in turn work in collaboration with chiefs and
headmen, but no political interference is required.
According to activist Peter Chanetsa in Chimanimani, Manicaland Province,
officials at the GMB at Bumba depot recently turned away councillor David
Munengu, of ward 15 in Chimani urban. The councillor had a list with 350
families from different political parties, but was told only the ZANU PF
chairperson had the authority.
Chanetsa said the MDC-T councillor was infuriated because the families in
his ward are struggling to feed themselves.
“Some are surviving by cooking raw bananas because they had no harvest this
year,” Chanetsa told SW Radio Africa.
He explained that the grain loan scheme was designed to assist hungry
villagers to grow their own food and then repay the GMB by the next harvest.
Each family receives a 50 kg bag of maize seed.
“Some of the maize now ends up being sold on the black market and the
government is not paid back,” Chanetsa added.
Reports of ZANU PF using food as a political weapon have intensified
countrywide. The MDC-T has criticized this abuse of state resources and
reported documented cases to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (JOMIC). It is not clear what JOMIC intends to do with these
cases, but the abuses have continued.