from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – THE hunger and food insecurity due to the El Nino-induced drought has seemingly come in handy for the ruling party to exert its stranglehold on power in Zimbabwe.
The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) is accused of tying food aid to political affiliations as millions bear the brunt of the drought.
Opposition activists are reportedly denied access to food aid.
Human rights groups have lamented the trend as the Southern African country contends with another drought spell, an almost permanent feature in the country, compounded by climate change.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said such violations were coinciding with the mass arrests of opposition figures and government critics in recent days, as the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa comes under pressure to fix Zimbabwe’s economic woes.
While food aid distribution has to be a non-partisan issue and to be run by government, in Zimbabwe, it has degenerated into a preserve of ZANU-PF through chiefs and activists aligned to the ruling party that has been in power since independence in 1980.
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said in July it had documented 24 incidents where victims were denied food aid and/or were removed from the beneficiary list for being suspected or known members of the opposition parties.
The forum noted that ZANU-PF had been at the centre of the violations of the right to sufficient food as its leaders had been on record taking over the selection processes and distribution of government sponsored aid.
“In acts of corruption and maladministration, ruling party members have been excluding vulnerable and needy beneficiaries by looting food aid,” the forum stated.
It noted such incidents in several districts around the drought-stricken country of over 16 million people.
A third of the population is estimated to be impacted by the drought.
The Zimbabwe Peace Project has recommended that the government of Mnangagwa take stern measures to ensure the selection of beneficiaries and distribution of food aid was done fairly and in accordance with the set standards, to ensure no politicisation or administrative actions can be done to exploit the needy beneficiaries.
The denial of food aid to the opposition was a hallmark of the presidency of Robert Mugabe, now late, who led the country from independence in 1980 until 2017 when a coup catapulted Mnangagwa to power.
Mnangagwa ascended mainly on a pledge of human rights reforms but critics argue he is more brutal than his predecessor.
– CAJ News