Drought this year not good for polls - Welshman Ncube

The drought this year makes the political environment unsuitable for elections as it leaves the masses exposed to vote-buying by unscrupulous political parties, MDC president Welshman Ncube has said.

Ncube, who is also Industry and Commerce minister, was addressing hundreds of supporters of his party at Ntepe Business Centre in Gwanda on Saturday, NewsDay reported.

He said apart from the conditions that have to be met in terms of the Global Political Agreement - which gave birth to the inclusive government of the two MDC formations and Zanu PF - before elections can be held, the drought that has ravaged most parts of the southern region made the political climate unsuitable for "free and fair elections."

Recently, government announced that from its assessment 500 000 hectares of maize was now a write-off throughout the country and announced it would extend the grain loan scheme to next year.

"Last week, aCabinet taskforce was set up to look for grain now, not to wait until people are starving," Ncube said.

"As we were driving here, we saw a sorry state of affairs because we had poor rains and the crops were virtually a write-off.

"You cannot have elections when the situation is like that.

"You risk having unscrupulous politicians embarking on vote-buying.

"People (will be) giving out food and saying vote for me even if I am the one responsible for your impoverishment."

Earlier he had explained the political situation in the country was not "ripe for elections."