THE question of food security, endemic corruption and the chaotic land reform exercise sparked heated exchanges in the House of Assembly yesterday with Zanu PF MPs blaming sanctions for the looming food shortages, which have left 2,2 million people vulnerable.

REPORT BY VENERANDA LANGA

But, MDC-T legislators blamed the chaotic land reform exercise, citing violent land grabs and Zanu PF’s failure to introduce a comprehensive land policy as the biggest single threats to the country’s food security.

During the heated exchanges, Speaker of the House of Assembly Jacob Mudenda had to interject and ordered Zhombe MP Daniel Mackenzie Ncube (Zanu PF) to withdraw his unparliamentary language when he referred to ex-Finance minister Tendai Biti (MDC-T, Harare East) as “this guy”.

Mudenda said it was wrong to refer to Biti as a “guy” after Ncube had chipped in saying: “This guy, Biti, has not been funding agriculture.”

Responding to a motion on food shortages which had been introduced by Lobengula MP Samuel Sipepa Nkomo (MDC-T) and seconded by Kuwadzana MP Lucia Matibenga (MDC-T), most Zanu PF MPs blamed the sanctions imposed on President Robert Mugabe and senior party officials by the West and Biti for contributing to the crisis.

The Zanu PF MPs accused Biti of having failed to adequately fund the agricultural sector during his tenure at the Treasury.

In response, Nkomo, however, blamed the food shortages on the unplanned land reform exercise and cited corruption in the distribution of agricultural inputs resulting in poor yields and starvation.

“This crisis is very much man-made and there was replacement of experienced farmers with inexperienced ones who sold equipment and the land was under-utilised,” Nkomo said. “The government has been accused of partisan distribution of food and poor drought mitigation programmes and it is primitive that government can deliberately starve its people for purposes of political expediency.”

Nkomo and Matibenga urged government to come up with a comprehensive land policy and carry out a land use audit, as well as introduce drought and hunger mitigation measures. The MDC-T MPs said a committee should be set up to probe the land issue.

Zanu PF chief whip and Mberengwa West MP Joram Gumbo said Nkomo and Matibenga’s arguments emanated from sour grapes, accusing them of failing to introduce those policies themselves during their tenure as ministers in the inclusive government.

“The ministers who have spoken have been in government for the past five years and were responsible for steering government policy, but they did not. In my view, there is no need to set up a committee to investigate that issue,” Gumbo said.

Mberengwa East MP Makhosini Hlongwane (Zanu PF) added: “It is sanctions that are impeding growth in our agriculture. There are no lines of credit in this country to fund agriculture.”

Most Zanu PF top officials and companies associated with the party have been on travel and economic sanctions imposed against them by the Western countries over alleged human rights abuses.

However, many of them were recently delisted, while Mugabe and a few others remained blacklisted.

Meanwhile, MDC MP (proportional representation) Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga castigated failure by Parliament to solve the issue of seating space shortage, saying it showed lack of respect for the legislature.

She said it was imperative for the 2014 National Budget to be crafted with all MPs present and seated in the House and recommended that a temporary venue for the legislature should be found while a long-term solution was sought.

“We need to do some introspection and do something about seating space and even basic things like having wireless networks are not there in this Parliament, yet soon we will be attending pre-budget seminars,” she said.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said it was disturbing that three months after the new Constitution was passed, it had already been breached through failure to swear in Provincial Councils.

“We have already started violating the Constitution and Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo should immediately call those Provincial Council members so that they can be sworn in.”

She said it was high time Parliament sessions were televised so that mediocrity was exposed and people knew the calibre of MPs they voted for, adding women should be appointed to lead parastatals as men had failed.