Executive Summary
ON 4 February 2016, Local Government Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, acting on behalf
of President Robert Mugabe, released a statement declaring the 2015-16 agricultural
season a State of Disaster. This declaration set in motion a food mobilisation exercise
which saw government making an appeal of US$1.5 billion for assistance to enable it to
provide for the food needs across the country. If managed well, the resource mobilisation
efforts could result in food aid which could ease the plight of millions of Zimbabweans
facing hunger induced by the El Nino drought.
As this report and a few others before it have shown, partisan distribution of food aid is
resulting in the marginalisation of many vulnerable groups of people. In its special
feature on page 26, Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) recommends minimum standards
which government should consider it its distributions.
Zanu-PF has never been at its most vulnerable as both internal and external threats ravage
the revolutionary movement, shaking it from its very core and rendering it a former
shadow of its mighty self in the process.
While internal turmoil in its own belly - caused by the tension between the warring
factions of Generation 40 (G40) which is believed to be rooting for First Lady Grace
Mugabe, and Team Lacoste, whose members are determined to see Vice President
Emmerson Mnangagwa take over from President Robert Mugabe when the time comes –
is making the revolutionary party nauseous; external threat from former Vice President
Mujuru’s new political outfit, Zimbabwe People First (commonly referred to only as
People First) are enough to make it dizzy.
ZPP Monthly Monitoring Report for January 2016 shows that in addition to factional
spasms taking centre stage across the provinces; Zanu-PF is battling to exorcise the
‘ghost’ of ousted Mujuru, who, more than a year since she was kicked to the curb
supposedly continues to enjoy support within the rank and file of the ruling party. As if
that were not enough, with People First gaining traction on the ground, Zanu-PF is feeling
the heat as more and more of its members are reportedly jumping ship to join the new
party.
This report shows that witch-hunting in the provinces particularly in Mashonaland East
and Mashonaland Central, among a few other areas, has seen political conflict rising
where ruling party members suspected of aligning themselves with People First are being
flushed out of the party and in some instances finding themselves victims of harassment,
intimidation and discrimination. Suspicion is rife among fellow Zanu-PF members as
some no longer trust their colleagues whom they accuse of dabbling in People First
politics even as they continue to sup with them at ruling party tables.
6