Zimbabwe chiefs to supervise food aid distribution

GOVERNMENT has directed that traditional leaders be involved in all food aid distribution programmes to improve transparency and accountability.

Speaking during a food deficit mitigation strategy sensatisation meeting in Bulawayo, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare acting minister July Moyo urged relief food distributors to always be accountable and transparent.

"It's absolutely critical that we tell all the chieftainships, headmen and village heads of people who are coming to their area to remove suspicion. In order to be transparent, we as the government need to know about everybody who is going to be intervening, so that if they are making mistakes on the ground, those from the government can say, this is not the agreement, you should work through these structures," he said.

"Chiefs are selected by the communities, so are the headmen and village heads and the President just signs that. These community structures give neutrality to what we want to do. Yes, a village is made up of people who come from various political and religious persuasions but in every village, headmen or head women know how many households they have," he noted.

Moyo said the decision to involve traditional leaders was informed by the 2019 Food Deficit Mitigation Strategy set by the government and subsequent Cabinet decisions, which were critical in the implementation of food relief programmes.