MIDLANDS Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Owen Ncube has warned organisations and individuals demanding payment for food aid, saying those who engage in such malpractices will face the full wrath of the law.
Speaking at Chief Bunina Chisadza’s homestead in Lower Gweru during the launch of Zunde Ramambo/Isiphala seNkosi programme recently, Ncube said no one should pay for food aid provided by the government.
He called for transparency in the distribution of the food.
“This grain will be distributed at no cost to beneficiaries and we do not want to hear that beneficiaries have been made to pay,” Ncube said.
“This grain is not for councillors, Members of Parliament or other officials and any undue influence will not be tolerated.
“District development co-ordinators together with their district drought relief committees should ensure that the distribution is fair, transparent, efficient and beneficial to the most vulnerable households among them the elderly, persons with disabilities, orphans, child headed households and the chronically ill.”
Ncube called on traditional leaders to ensure that people in their jurisdictions receive food relief to avoid starvation.
Speaking at the same event, Chief Gambiza applauded the programme, which he said would avert hunger in rural areas.
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“We commend government for such a programme as Zunde raMambo, which will see our people getting food relief,” he said.
“We were worried that our people would starve as a result of the El Niño-induced drought, but we are happy with this intervention that has given us a lease of life.”
Chief Chisadza of Lower Gweru said he would receive 35 tonnes of grain for the seven wards under his jurisdiction.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa early this year declared the El Niño-induced drought a state of national disaster.
He has since approved the food distribution mitigation strategy which is underpinned by the rural grain distribution mitigation, cash for cereal urban response and the Zunde RaMambo programmes.
