ZIMBABWEANS might soon resort to cannibalism if the gripping hunger stalking the nation is not averted, former Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said.

Biti, now secretary general of the MDC Renewal Team, told party supporters in Harare’s dormitory town of Chitungwiza that stress related deaths had gone up in the country.

“If left to continue, the current situation will lead to cannibalism where human beings will resort to eating human flesh.

“Most of the deaths being witnessed in the country are either due to starvation or stress related ailments like High Blood Pressure, hypertension and heart attack, because of the economic, political and social decay we are witnessing,” said Biti.

“Going to funerals to pay condolences is now some form of formal employment because many people are stressed up to a level where the strain takes their lives”.

Biti said the current rise in domestic violence cases is an indication that “the stress levels in the country have gone to dangerous levels as well as a breakdown of the family structure.

Men who are no longer able to provide for their families resort to violent ways to assert themselves on the women”.

“The Renewal Team will, among other issues, launch an economic blue print Holistic Program for Economic Transformation (HOPE), that will outline the party’s strategy on curbing unemployment, attracting Foreign Direct Investment and dealing with external debt.

The economic blue print will also proffer the infrastructure expansion and development plan,” he said, urging government to move quickly to repeal the contentious indigenisation laws.

“As it is, the indigenisation policy has only resulted in massive capital flight causing companies to close en masse.

Companies closures have resulted in a serious decline of the capacity utilization of Zimbabwean Industries and sad losses of jobs, leaving many people destitute”.

The former treasury chief said his party’s economic proposals will “aim at restoration of human dignity in the country, creation of formal jobs and development of the country which is now more than 40 years behind in that respect”.