THE Zimbabwe Peace Project has reported partisan distribution of food aid in rural areas, with opposition supporters being scrapped off the list of beneficiaries.
Zimbabwe is grappling with an El Nino-induced drought which has since been declared a national disaster by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
An estimated 9 million people in both urban and rural areas require food aid until March 2025.
The ZPP Monthly Monitoring Report for September 2024 revealed the politicisation of food aid across the country. In 9 separate incidents, 85 victims were denied aid.
The government tasked chiefs to superintend the distribution of food aid in rural areas, but the traditional leaders have been accused of falsifying information and sidelining opposition supporters.
"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 indicates that when a decision to increase the number of beneficiary households was made, instead of adding from the rest of the 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: "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". (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).
"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.
"The families, facing a hostile environment, requested a letter from Chitemere to relocate to other villages but were denied, labelling them CCC members and claiming their movement to other villages would negatively impact others," reads the ZPP report.
The exploitation of beneficiaries extends beyond mere exclusion, as traditional leaders in various districts are reportedly coercing individuals into participating in labour-intensive infrastructure projects under the guise of "food for work."
"These have been noted in Vungu district in Midlands, Masvingo North, Bikita East, Gutu Central and Mutare North among others. In Ward 10, Mutare North in Manicaland, kraalhead Phanuel Hama Marange is leading the villagers who benefit from the social welfare distributed food aid in making damaged roads. The villagers mainly work from am to 9 am with bare hands and using their own tools such as shovels, wheelbarrows and hoes.
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"Reports also state that villagers are fined US$1 should they absent themselves. In a similar incident in Bikita South in Masvingo, villagers who wanted to benefit from food aid were assigned duties under the food for work program and worked for two months but have not received the promised aid," added ZPP.
ZPP calls for urgent action from the Parliament of Zimbabwe to work with the Ministry of Social Welfare to investigate these abuses of food aid and curb political bias and mismanagement.
