News / National
Opposition members denied food aid
13 Dec 2015 at 06:10hrs | Views
Traditional leaders in Chimanimani East are reportedly working in cahoots with Zanu PF councillors in identifying perceived opposition party supporters and excluding them from receiving food hand-outs.
Alfred Chivese is a known MDC-T supporter in Ward 5, Chimanimani East said Zanu PF officials and traditional leaders are asking people to produce Zanu PF membership cards before they receive food aid or agricultural inputs.
" Some people like us who are known to be MDC T supporters are forced to wear Zanu PF T-Shirts and chant Zanu PF slogans at community gatherings if we wish to benefit," said Chivese.
Recently, First Lady Grace Mugabe donated food items including maize, rice and cooking oil in Chimanimani but the food items were reportedly used to buy voters in the recent Zanu PF party restructuring exercise.
Some child-headed families, disabled people and the elderly in Ward 20 were denied food hand-outs distributed last month.
"We were told to register with the local councillor for food hand-outs and we did that only to be told a few days later that we did not qualify for the food," said an elderly man who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Councillor for Ward 20, Itai Chimhete confirmed these developments which happened last month.
"Social welfare people came to my ward saying we should compile a list of disadvantaged people so that we get an allocation of 191 bags of maize. After compiling the list we asked the prospective beneficiaries to contribute $2 each for transport to ferry the maize from Chimanimani town," Chimhete said.
"However, on the day of collection, I was told by the GMB manager that my allocation had been given to another ward because some Zanu PF provincial members wanted to use the maize for their party programmes," Chimhete said.
"They said I could not get the maize and all my efforts to have my ward treated fairly were in vain. I suspect that we were denied our allocation because I am an MDC-T councillor. Maybe they thought I had put MDC-T people on that list. They are just taking advantage of the situation because they know they can get away with it."
Manicaland Provincial Administrator, Fungai Mbetsa could not be reached for comment, but sources at the Department of Social Welfare and Local Government ministry in the province said it was a directive from senior government officials that those belonging to MDC-T should be fed by their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Alfred Chivese is a known MDC-T supporter in Ward 5, Chimanimani East said Zanu PF officials and traditional leaders are asking people to produce Zanu PF membership cards before they receive food aid or agricultural inputs.
" Some people like us who are known to be MDC T supporters are forced to wear Zanu PF T-Shirts and chant Zanu PF slogans at community gatherings if we wish to benefit," said Chivese.
Recently, First Lady Grace Mugabe donated food items including maize, rice and cooking oil in Chimanimani but the food items were reportedly used to buy voters in the recent Zanu PF party restructuring exercise.
Some child-headed families, disabled people and the elderly in Ward 20 were denied food hand-outs distributed last month.
"We were told to register with the local councillor for food hand-outs and we did that only to be told a few days later that we did not qualify for the food," said an elderly man who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Councillor for Ward 20, Itai Chimhete confirmed these developments which happened last month.
"Social welfare people came to my ward saying we should compile a list of disadvantaged people so that we get an allocation of 191 bags of maize. After compiling the list we asked the prospective beneficiaries to contribute $2 each for transport to ferry the maize from Chimanimani town," Chimhete said.
"However, on the day of collection, I was told by the GMB manager that my allocation had been given to another ward because some Zanu PF provincial members wanted to use the maize for their party programmes," Chimhete said.
"They said I could not get the maize and all my efforts to have my ward treated fairly were in vain. I suspect that we were denied our allocation because I am an MDC-T councillor. Maybe they thought I had put MDC-T people on that list. They are just taking advantage of the situation because they know they can get away with it."
Manicaland Provincial Administrator, Fungai Mbetsa could not be reached for comment, but sources at the Department of Social Welfare and Local Government ministry in the province said it was a directive from senior government officials that those belonging to MDC-T should be fed by their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Source - The Standard
