Mass starvation looms for Zimbabweans
By Tererai Karimakwenda
July 21, 2008

Global media reports have said mass starvation is looming for millions of Zimbabweans this year, following recent poor harvests and the ongoing food shortages in the shops. But people on the ground are using a different language. They say they are already starving. The government’s chaotic ‘Land Reform’ programme has resulted in poor harvests, even though there were heavy rains this season. Government policies have produced an economy characterised by hyperinflation and severe food shortages in the shops. With experts estimating that inflation is currently between 10 and 15 million per cent, prices for some goods are more than doubling every day.

An estimated five million people in the country will be in need of food assistance very soon and hundreds of thousands who harvested very little this season will require food aid immediately. This is according to the United Nations, who also said that one third of the population suffers malnourishment. An increased number of children are now suffering from kwashiorkor, a serious disease linked to malnutrition.

Renson Gasela, an official in the Mutambara MDC and former head of the Grain Marketing Board, said starvation is very, very visible these days. He said in a country where everyone depends on maize as their daily food, it is a serious problem when there is no maize at all. A 20-kg bucket of maize meal now costs up to Z$ 1 trillion.

Gasela said he worries about going to his constituency because people expect him to do something about the food shortages. A woman that he knows showed up on his farm last week, selling a large bag full of her family’s clothing. Gasela quoted her as saying: “We can always buy more of these in the future, but right now we need to eat.”

Gasela angrily criticised the current government ban on humanitarian aid agencies, that is stopping them from feeding people in the rural areas. He said: “When you remove NGOs from feeding children, what are you saying? You are saying that they are condemned to die.”

Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa said many people are showing up in the capital after leaving their rural homes because they did not grow enough food to keep them alive. The shortages have been worse since the presidential runoff election when ZANU-PF handed out bags of maize meal to supporters with party cards.

The government recently announced what they call ‘People’s shops,’ where the food is subsidised. But the exercise has been criticised as nothing more than a publicity campaign. Muchemwa said even one of these shops that he went to have empty shelves, and only soldiers, intelligence agents, police and prison officers have access to the food. In one shop last week, soldiers argued over supplies of sugar that had just been delivered, threatening to pull out guns if they did not get any.

Even if you have money there is another problem. Banks have a maximum withdrawal limit of Z$100 billion per person a day, and it costs more than that for a soft drink.

Muchemwa said cross border traders are reporting that Zimbabwe’s shortages are now causing price increases in South Africa and other neighbouring countries. Supplies across the borders are reportedly getting scarce as Zimbabweans buy in bulk to sell at home.