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The politicisation of food security
Comment: The Daily Mirror
February 14, 2005

http://www.dailymirror.co.zw

THE news last week that the government had released $12.1 billion to buy 15 357 tonnes of maize from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) for distribution to the needy has once again brought to the fore the politics of food (or is it of the stomach) in Zimbabwe.

According to the government, 1.5 million people are in need of assistance against the ridiculously high figure of 6 million citizens dreamt up by the Americans and their agent-cohorts in this country.

While this (announcement) is a moral and political victory for the government over the US government - which no matter what good Harare does, still remains "an outpost of tyranny" - what is most worrying is the continued politicisation of the food security issue by the two opposing sides.

Since the Fast Track Land Reform Programme began in earnest some six years ago, the issue of food security has been at the forefront of debates, some heated, to discredit Zimbabwe.

Similarly, the government of Zimbabwe has responded in kind with some projections that have sometimes turned out to be highly misleading, and dangerous too. Rewind the play to the chaotic food situation over the past few years, epitomised by the bloody food riots of 1997/98 which cost lives and destroyed infrastructure worth millions of dollars when looters ransacked retail businesses mainly in and around Harare.

Also, all government officials with the penchant to ‘cook’ figures and distort the food situation in the country to impress some higher ups, obviously, when what matters most is giving the correct situation on the ground, must be told boldly, that the populace won’t be duped second time around.

Let these good for nothings be also warned that their deliberate misrepresentation of facts is fatal and replaying the same trick will only be at their own peril as the voice of the electorate will boomerang with a loud bang come March 31, 2005.

One aspect of the Land Reform Programme that has been consistently ignored is that it is a long-term project whose greatest fruits will only be reaped with the passage of time. Detractors have myopically claimed that the revolution in land tenure patterns has resulted in food shortages while the government’s knee-jerk reaction has been that of a resounding success impressing, that so far so good ,as everything is going smoothly. Both sides seem to forget that it is the ordinary citizen who is caught up in the maelstrom of this war.

Sometime back, the agriculture minister was roundly criticised for claiming that the country had adequate food supplies after carrying out an assessment of the situation from a helicopter.

While all is fair in politics and war, the people of Zimbabwe deserve better treatment from Western-funded non-governmental organisations and their government than the continued politicisation of bread and butter issues.

If NGOs were really concerned about the plight of the people in need of food assistance, they would not go to all the Western capitals saying Zimbabwe is on the brink of unredeemable famine. At the same time, a sincere government does not tell the people that voted it into power that all is well when there is an evident need to import grain for the subsistence needs of the nation.

The government’s professional responsibility and moral obligation require that citizens be told the truth and provided with food whenever the need arises. That is what we pay our very high taxes for anyway!

Civic bodies, by dint of their self-appointed mandate to act as safety nets for communities, have the responsibility of ensuring the people they help – who are also the ones who provide them with employment – are well-catered for in cases where the government has done its best and still cannot cope.

It cannot be denied that some figures in government, top guys for that matter, have misled the nation on the state of affairs on the ground on a number of occasions in the past, but so have certain NGOs and their Western-based sponsors.

None of them ever attempt to point out that there exist pockets within Zimbabwe that require food assistance even when there is a bumper harvest. None of them ever bother to point out that the majority of their statistics are based on ever-changing estimates.

At the end of the day, voters do not really care what the American establishment thinks about the administration of their country: they want to eat and help develop Zimbabwe. The rhetoric is only secondary to the physical demands of the body.

There is great potential for development if non-governmental organisations and the government put aside their political differences and work together.

A look at the manner in which organisations dealing with HIV and Aids and related issues operate, demonstrates how civic bodies and government can interact constructively for the benefit of the nation.

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