Aid agencies feed Zimbabwe's hungry

Aid agencies feed Zimbabwe's hungry

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By Lebo Nkatazo

AID agencies have started feeding hungry Zimbabweans after appeals from government, it emerged Wednesday.

Christian Care was the first to go public Wednesday after issuing a tender for the transportation of food to needy families.

The Christian organisation said its tender was for the transportation of "bulgar wheat, corn, soya blend, pulses, maize meal and other foodstuffs from our various warehouses to various food depos in the following districts: Guvuve, Mbire, Chipinge and Harare."

Christian Care added that "activities are tentatively set to begin on or about November 2006".

The World Food Programme estimates that at least 1,4 million Zimbabweans are in need of urgent food aid. It estimates that the number may rise to 2 million by the end of the year.

The food deficit is blamed on the government's botched land reform exercise which saw productive white farmers driven out by black peasants in chaotic scenes.

Opposition officials say the government has failed to support the new black farmers with necessary farming knowledge, finance and equipment to maximise productivity.

Vincent Gwaradzimba, an opposition spokesman on agriculture said: "The Zanu PF government has guaranteed suffering Zimbabweans yet another season of starvation following the importation of 70 000 tonnes of fake fertiliser and the granting of 99-year leases mostly to incompetent farmers once described by Robert Mugabe himself as having turned commercial farms into weekend braai resorts."

He repeated opposition calls for Agriculture Minister Joseph Made to be fired for failing to safeguard the country's food security.

Gwaradzimba added: "The agriculture ministry has proved to be a perennial haven for clowns and court-jesters who have failed to revive a critical sector that was once the envy of Africa and the region.

"Zimbabweans are wondering how government officials could travel to South Africa to import 70 000 tonnes of fake fertiliser in scarce foreign currency. Zimbabweans are wondering how a government could gloat over 99-year leases as if leases alone without critical inputs such as fertiliser and fuel can guarantee us a bumper harvest."
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