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Zimbabwe’s
Zimmer Frame 2nd
August 2002 ZIMBABWEANS,
many of whom are threatened with starvation, are undoubtedly grateful for the
food aid that is being given to them by several foreign governments. Unfortunately,
the reality is that the aid is perpetuating and prolonging the wider suffering
of Zimbabweans by giving them a false sense of food security when they should be
seriously confronting the causes of their starvation in a rich farming land. As long as
the food handouts continue to come in, many in Zimbabwe and especially the
government will not bother to examine why the country has sunk to this pathetic
level, let alone to take corrective action. The
government's defiant seizure of productive commercial farms and the occupation
of most of the farms by its supporters have been the main catalysts of the
famine, pushing down output of the staple maize by as much as 60 percent last
season. No doubt,
the drought which hit southern Africa only worsened the situation. But let no
one shy away from the undeniable fact that it is the government's own actions,
more than anything else, which have triggered the current suffering of its own
citizens. It follows
therefore that the government and it alone must take action to correct its
irresponsible policies which have caused the famine if the man-made tragedy is
to be avoided in future. Left to
its own devices and with the foreign food aid coming in, the government is
predictably behaving as if it is business as usual and is even refusing to
acknowledge its role in the country's worst humanitarian disaster. For
Zimbabweans, the food aid gives them false comfort that all is well, shielding
them from the harsh reality that they must take their destiny into their hands
in the face of an administration that seems determined to do everything and
anything that can make their lives as unbearable as is possible. Some
commentators are rightly arguing that, unfortunate as this might be, a cessation
of foreign food aid would not only allow Zimbabweans to appreciate their
deep-seated suffering but also ensure that the government takes responsibility
for its actions. In other
words, the government must sort out its mess without any foreign food aid and
Zimbabweans must hold the administration fully accountable for their misery. But the
issue of food aid, aside from promoting an unsustainable culture of dependency,
goes far deeper than this in crisis-weary Zimbabwe. Plausible
media reports continue to filter out from the countryside that some elements of
the ruling ZANU PF party, on top of disrupting farming in many parts of Zimbabwe
and causing the current hunger, are now using food aid as a political weapon. These
elements are denying food aid to those they suspect to be opposition members,
clearly one of the worst human rights abuses and a serious challenge to the
conscience of those foreign governments whose taxpayers' money has been used to
buy the food. Although
the government denies using food aid as a political tool, one ZANU PF official
was quoted in the media two weeks ago as telling villagers in Matabeleland that
those who continued to vote for the opposition should not run to the government
in search of food relief because they were supporting the country's enemies. Surely the
government, however much it may hate the fact that the MDC is a reality, must
take care of the interests of all Zimbabweans and not just those of its
supporters. The food
aid - this includes that bought by the government using hard-earned taxpayers'
funds - must be given to all who need it without any discrimination whatsoever. Otherwise
Zimbabweans will feel justified in refusing to pay taxes from which the food aid
money is siphoned if the food is only meant for ZANU PF members. There can be no
two ways about this. Financial Gazette |