for whom sanitary wear was inaccessible due to high prices. Interestingly, while the majority of citizens are reeling
in extreme poverty the budget statement also set aside resources for a space satellite.
Minister Ncube however announced the continuation of subsidies to Command Agriculture and Zimbabwe United
Passenger Company (ZUPCO) while scrapping grain subsidies to grain millers. The Grain Millers Association of
Zimbabwe (GMZ) subsequently announced an increase in the price of mealie meal from ZWD55 to ZWD101, 66. The
public outcry that followed led President Emmerson Mnangagwa to restore the subsidies. He stated that he had not
been consulted before the decision was taken.
Case File Highlights
Discrimination in the distribution of food and other aid contributed 30.1% of the total violations recorded in the
month under review. In a number of instances opposition supporters have been explicitly told that government aid
is for ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) party supporters. In some cases, officials
from Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services (Agritex) charged with distributing aid are victimised for
attempting to distribute aid fairly. This was noted in an incident that occurred on 6 November 2019 when Cotton
Company (COTTCO) launched an exercise of distributing inputs to farmers at the Chireya Cotton Marketing Board
(CMB) depot. The distribution exercise which was well attended ended up being politicised as farmers were told by
Zanu PF members, Henry Chidzivo and one Chiherenge that inputs were from the president so everyone was
supposed to support the president and his party. An Agritex officer who objected to the politicisation of the
distribution process was verbally attacked, accused of being Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and
threatened with abduction, or transfer out of Chireya.
In Zaka Central, ward 19, at Jerera Growth Point, villagers gathered to receive their allocation of farming inputs
under the Presidential Inputs Scheme on 4 November 2019. Some Zanu PF officials, among them a woman named
Mahembe hijacked the process, pushing aside the Agritex officer and the village head in charge of distribution. The
two were accused of intending to distribute the aid without taking into account political party affiliation. Mahembe
and her colleagues therefore took over the distribution and ensured that opposition supporters did not get any of
the aid.
3