THE ZIMBABWE
PEACE PROJECT
MASK UP: A member of the Chikhovo
community in Chiredzi makes a
contribution during a community
dialogue hosted by ZPP in the area.
The community here highlighted
partisan aid distribution as an
impediment to sustainable peace
One example is that on 16
September villagers in
Murehwa North in Goso
Village Ward 14 convened
to receive government
inputs under the
Pfumvunza program. The
inputs were distributed at
the homestead of the local
councillor Shadreck
Chimuteka, of Zanu PF.
MDC activists and other
opposition party
supporters were not
invited to be part of the
programme. In some
parts of Murehwa North
and West, some
councilors and agricultural
extension officers are
demanding that
beneficiaries pay up to
US$2.00 for them to
receive the inputs
GOVERNMENT has come up with half-hearted attempts
to provide relief, but these fall far short of giving a
semblance of dignity to the hard pressed Zimbabweans.
For example, the subsidized mealie-meal has never been
adequately available, leaving people having to spend
hours on queues to just get a 10 kg bag, if at all they get
it.
Another example is the public transport scheme, where
government has engaged private transporters to join their
subsidized transport scheme through the state owned
Zupco.
Government bungling, allegations of corruption and
general ineptness have contributed to the current public
transport crisis in Zimbabwe.
While government has continued to promise to provide
relief to those whose economic activities were affected by
Covid-19 and the vulnerable. This has been all talk as the
only formally announced assistance was a ZWL350 (about
US$3.50) token the Finance minister announced would be
transferred to vulnerable people
While government has continued to parrot its shadowy
agricultural support scheme, Pfumvudza, as a panacea to
food insecurity, the programme, just like the ones before
it, has been conducted in a non-transparent and partisan
manner.