Confusion rocks Gwanda drought relief programme

CONFUSION has rocked the Gwanda District drought relief programme under the Department of Social Welfare following reports that partners involved in the distribution of food aid are not co-operating. This came to light last week during an emergency meeting, which was organised by Gwanda District Administrator Mrs Gladys Zizhou following an outcry by the Department of Social Welfare that there was confusion in the distribution of food aid.
"We have received various reports that there seems to be a lot of confusion in the programme and that some partners are not working well," said Mrs Zizhou.
In the meeting, it was disclosed that in the past weeks there has been friction between stakeholders in the programme, as some decisions made during stakeholder meetings were not implemented.
Discussions on the confusion showed that one of the partners, Care International, was making some critical decisions without consulting other partners in the programme.
The District Social Welfare Officer Mr Alex Zinyoro told the meeting that there had been a lot of challenges in the distribution of food aid to various wards in the district, which were caused by lack of cooperation between the partners.
"The problem is that we have not been moving at the same pace. In some wards, beneficiaries were mobilised to receive food on a date that was unknown to our department and this made beneficiaries wait for the whole day expecting to receive their food handouts, which never came.
"These people would be dismissed without any explanation given to them as to what would have happened, but at the end of the day it would  be our department to give an explanation as to why the food was not delivered on the expected day," said Mr Zinyoro.
He said lack of cooperation had turned out to be a burden to beneficiaries as the aged and terminally ill were kept waiting for food, which never came.
"We are presented with plans without any input from us and as a result we had situations where beneficiaries were mobilised using that faulty plan by our cooperating partner without our knowledge," said Mr Zinyoro.
The meeting heard that Care International project manager Mr Leslie Mhara, who is based in Masvingo, was implementing different plans that were not agreed on between the Gwanda programme implementers.
It is alleged that Mr Mhara used plans in Gwanda District that he had inherited from Masvingo yet the situations were very different.
However, Mr Mhara, who was also present in the meeting, denied the allegations."In terms of changing the plans, there is nothing like that," he said.
The meeting also heard that Care International also registered some beneficiaries at West Nicholson peri-urban area without consulting other stakeholders.
The same organisation had to re-register some beneficiaries in Lushongwe ward after the local leadership had intervened saying some deserving beneficiaries had been left out.
The meeting resolved that for the drought relief programme to run smoothly, all partners involved in the programme would now jointly plan and implement the programme to avoid causing confusion.
The Department of Social Welfare  and Care International working together with community leaders  were responsible for the selection of the beneficiaries under the programme.
The World Food Programme assists in the transportation of food to the various wards in the district.