Zimbabwe’s information minister has accused the mayor of Bulawayo of lying about food shortages in the country’s second-largest city, where scores of people have reportedly died of hunger.
Jonathan Moyo was quoted as saying in the state daily The Chronicle on Wednesday that there may have been cases of malnutrition in Bulawayo but no food shortages.
Speaking after inspecting the facilities of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) in Bulawayo with the head of the state-owned board, Samuel Muvuti, the minister said Zimbabwe will harvest 2,4-million tonnes of maize this year, more than its annual consumption of 1,8-million tonnes.
The GMB is the only legal buyer or seller of maize and wheat in Zimbabwe.
Citing data from the city’s municipality, independent media have recently reported that scores of people have been dying of hunger in Bulawayo.
”There is no food crisis in Zimbabwe. There is no food crisis in Bulawayo,” Moyo was quoted as saying.
He said the city had stocks of 40 tonnes of the staple maize, enough to last it till next harvest in April.
”The lies are designed not to harm [ruling] Zanu-PF, not to harm the president … but Zimbabwe,” said Moyo, promising to deal with journalists who have been writing stories on the hunger deaths in Bulawayo.
He also urged the relevant government ministries to take action against mayor Japhet Ntabeni-Ncube and the city’s health director, Zanele Hwalima, over the reports.
”What we are seeing here is the use of weapons of mass deception through the press,” said Moyo of the opposition-led city council.
”We’ve had a problem since [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair and [United States President George] Bush used weapons of mass deception to justify a war in Iraq. They are using deception to justify the introduction of NGOs ahead of next year’s election.”
Still, Moyo admitted there is malnutrition in Bulawayo, which is in Zimbabwe’s arid western province of Matabeleland.
”It’s a case of not having a balanced diet. Malnutrition is there, even in Britain and the US. People in the US are fat because they eat too many burgers. That’s malnutrition,” Moyo said.
Zimbabwe, which holds legislative elections in March, has ruled out inviting election observers from Western countries.
Regional and international aid agencies and groups that monitor food security have warned that despite the government’s claims of Zimbabwe producing food in excess of its requirements this year, supplies will be insufficient for some.
President Robert Mugabe has shut out food aid, saying it should be given to more deserving countries.
More than two million people in rural Zimbabwe will suffer from food shortages this year, according to a report by a committee of NGOs and United Nations agencies. — Sapa, Sapa-AFP