As a Zimbabwean, I can understand if middle-class South Africans have difficulty appreciating the magnitude of the food crisis in my country. For most middle-class South Africans, the luxury of three square meals a day is taken for granted.
The added convenience of ready- to-eat meals from supermarket refrigerators and takeaways makes it even more difficult for South Africans to comprehend the extent of food shortages in a neighbouring state.
The mind boggles, however, when government officials fail or, rather, refuse to accept the reality on the ground.
South African Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad’s statement that the South African government will believe there is hunger in Zimbabwe only when there is “concrete information” makes disturbing reading.
What type of concrete evidence does Pahad need? From his statement it would seem that only when hundreds of people fall dead from starvation in the streets of the country’s capital, Harare, will he change his mind.
There might not be any dead bodies on the streets of Harare yet, but if Pahad needs concrete information, there are thousands of walking, malnourished skeletons in both urban and rural homes.
As a journalist, I have, on numerous occasions, interviewed starving Zimbabweans. I have been to homes in rural areas, on farms, mines and in towns where I have seen the face of hunger in the emaciated bodies of families that have absolutely nothing to eat. I have listened as mothers narrate how they are forced to buy mealie-meal by the cupful as and when they have money.
In thousands of Zimbabwean households, that stretch beyond Harare, family members consider themselves lucky if they have a meal of sadza (maize porridge) and boiled vegetables a day.
Searching for food handouts has become a grim daily routine for numerous families. Family members, fathers included, spend hours in queues begging for food handouts from churches and donor organisations.
I am one of the few lucky Zimbabweans who can still afford to buy basic foodstuffs regularly. But as a mother of a seven-year-old daughter, I have often found it difficult to find nutritious foods such as milk, fruits and bread, for her. Supermarket shelves and refrigerators are almost always empty, nutritious foods are in limited supply, and so, I too am starving despite having a bit of money in my pocket.
On the occasion when there is food on supermarket shelves, not everyone has money to buy mealie-meal, cooking oil, salt and vegetables or beans to prepare a meal — so hunger persists.
There are workers who go to work on empty stomachs to earn a monthly wage that isn’t sufficient to buy food for a week. Is that not starvation?
Just what kind of information does Pahad need to change his mind, I wonder? There are press reports from various media that cite real Zimbabweans detailing the survival challenges they face.
There are also well-researched reports produced by credible international humanitarian organisations that state, beyond doubt, that there is a food crisis in Zimbabwe. Organisations like Amnesty International have produced documents vividly illustrating the politics of food at play in Zimbabwe. The Amnesty International report Zimbabwe: Power and Hunger, Violations of the Right to Food is based on extensive interviews conducted over three months. The World Food Programme estimates that about half of Zimbabwe’s population of 12,5-million are at risk of starvation.
The European Union is obviously reading and taking note of such reports. The EU accepts there is a food crisis in the country.
Maybe Pahad needs information from varied sources. He could try reading what Archibishop Pius Ncube, of the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe, has to say about the food situation. Archibishop Ncube is one of leading the human rights campaigners in Zimbabwe who travels extensively and tries to reduce the suffering by giving out alms sourced from well-wishers.
Zimbabwean NGOs, which work closely with ordinary citizens who bear the full brunt of hunger, have more than adequate evidence that they are willing to share with Pahad.
More than sufficient information exists from various sources to prove that Zimbabweans are starving. Pahad just needs to believe.
Netsai Mlilo is a Zimbabwean journalist