Political bias and exploitation of victims in Food aid
Image source: NewsDay
Emerging trends from the distribution
of food aid across the country have
displayed worrying trends on consistent
political
discrimination
and
maladministration
of
government
sponsored aid. These include the
distribution of rotten maize and wheat,
leaders
and
community
members
falsifying information about the number
of family members in beneficiaries’
households, and unjustly using people’s
names but the beneficiaries not getting
the food aid. In September only, ZPP
recorded 9 incidents of partisan
distribution of food aid affecting 85
victims. Some of the trends uncovered
are that due to the immense shortage
of food aid, victims are further falling
prey to other powerful community
members who then demand that the
received rations be shared with other
beneficiaries even if they were not on
the list further reducing the amount of
food beneficiaries are supposed to get.
In one of the 19 villages in Ward 8 in
Vungu district, only 14 families have been
benefiting from government sponsored
food aid in a village of about 65 families.
The narration from some of the victims
indicate that when a decision to increase
the number of beneficiary households was
made, instead of adding from the rest of
families
in
the
village,
additional
beneficiaries from the ruling party were
added from other villages because the rest
of the families were deemed unfit due to
their political affiliations. One of the
victims narrated:
“Hatitombopiwe nekuti vanenge vachiti
endai munodya kunababa venyu, kana
kuudzwa kuti chikafu chirikuuya hatiudzwe,
asi dzimwe nguva unotonzwa nevanhu kuti
zita
rako
radedzerwa
asi
hauwani
zvichireva kuti pane mumwe arikutodya
nemazita edu” (We are not getting the food
rations because they say go and feed from
your Father’s plate. We are not even told
about the distribution but sometimes we
are told by people that our names were on
the list and were called out but we do not
get the food, meaning someone is
benefitting on our behalf.)
In Mwenezi North, Ward 4, Kraal Head
Chitemere of Village 2, discriminately excluded
two families from potential beneficiaries of
fertiliser under the Pfumvudza supporting
scheme stating that they never attend ZANU PF
meetings and were not participating in the
party activities. He declared the seedling
program was for ruling party supporters only.
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