In their latest attempts to win the March 31 parliamentary election in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) candidates have resorted to politicising the scarcely available grain in the country to starve suspected opposition supporters into submission.
The Zimbabwe Independent has learnt that Zanu-PF candidates have taken over control of grain stocks in Manicaland and Masvingo from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and are vetting beneficiaries.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Manicaland spokesperson, Pishai Muchauraya, said the politicisation of food has intensified with the Zanu-PF card being used as a licence to buy maize from the GMB.
“Vote-buying through food has become the biggest problem in Manicaland with the worst-affected areas being the three Makoni constituencies and two others in Chipinge,” Muchauraya said.
“Zanu-PF youths have been deployed at all GMB depots to vet people coming to buy maize. A Zanu-PF card has been declared the first requirement to be considered for purchasing maize.”
Zanu-PF candidates for Manicaland include ministers Joseph Made and Didymus Mutasa as well as former Central Intelligence Organisation boss Shadreck Chipanga.
Muchauraya said in Chipinge South, Enock Porusingazi was issuing badges inscribed “Election 2005” to supporters attending his rallies. The badges are then used as a ticket to buy maize. Porusingazi is selling maize on behalf of the GMB.
“On March 8 at Betura village, ward 16, more that 2Â 000 people were denied access to buy grain for allegedly failing to produce the badges,” a source said.
“Only 200 people who had attended Zanu-PF rallies over the weekend had the badges and were allowed to buy maize.”
“If the situation is not rectified, we have a potential that some people might starve by mid-April,” he said.
Sources in Mwenezi said Zanu-PF candidate Isaiah Shumba had stopped the GMB from selling grain directly to the public and now only permits its sale through Zanu-PF structures so as to screen beneficiaries. Shumba is the deputy Education Minister.
Minister denies prejudging poll
Meanwhile, South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana denied on Thursday having prejudged the outcome of the Zimbabwean poll.
“I have not issued a single statement,” he told reporters in Pretoria.
Mdladlana, who heads a South African government observer mission to Zimbabwe, said people who accused him of saying that conditions in the country were conducive to free and fair elections were lying.
“I can tolerate anything and everything, but not lies.”
The Movement for Democratic Change, has said it would not engage with the South African government observer team until the minister is replaced.
It said he had prematurely declared the polls free and fair.
Mdladlana’s “partisan” stance “is an affront to the ideals that guided liberation struggles across Africa”, the party said in a statement on Thursday.
Mdladlana said many people had already concluded that elections in Zimbabwe would not be free and fair.
“Those people are a problem and a nuisance,” he said. “But nobody attacks them.”
The minister described the current situation in Zimbabwe as calm and much improved from elections in 2002.
The MDC had candidates in all constituencies and equal representation on the country’s electoral commission. He described the Zimbabwean electoral act as progressive.
This was encouraging, he said.
“Some of us are fed up with the lies,” he reiterated.
Mdladlana returned to South Africa on Thursday to attend an International Labour Organisation meeting before returning to Zimbabwe. – Sapa, Zimbabwe Independent