7 Millions Zimbabweans face Starvation

This article was originally published on the Dangwe News website.
Thanks to Rehad Desai for sharing.

Over 7 million Zimbabweans are in need of food aid as economy continues to crumble this as the country’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa continues to blow millions on overseas trips. Each hour he spends in the sky costs a Zimbabwean $30,000.000 that is for the flight only. This is enough money to buy a village some maize meal for a month.

A lady carries a bucket of water in Harare

 Over $4 Million was blown away on the anti-sanctions March at a time when aid agencies put the number of those in food aid at over 2.7 Million in rural areas alone. The UN World Food Programme  Executive Director David Beasley said the number will jump to around 5.5 Million during farming season to March 2020. The severe food shortage is blamed on El Nino and poor economic management by the Mnangagwa administration.

On the weekend of the 26 -27 October Dangwe crew managed to visit Muzarabani area in Mashonaland Central Province. The area known for floods is in dire need of food aid as villagers are struggling to cope. During our visit most spoke of how they are struggling to put one meal on the table. The few that have more live stocks such as cattle are selling them for a song as meat dealers from Harare take advantage. We managed to have a seat down with one elderly lady who lost her husband 20 years ago ‘hapana kana chekubata handina mwana anoshanda kana sipo yekugeza handina (I have nothing to eat not even bathing soap) ’. As we were talking to the lady two other men walked in and complained about how life has become tough. The Muzarabani area is known for being a ZanuPF area and food distribution is mostly done only on party lines with ruling supporters getting preference.

Hungry Zimbabweans waiting for cash at a local bank

Poor economic management by the ZanuPF regime has also seen those in Urban areas in need of food aid. Recently the government warned of starvation in urban areas as many can no longer afford to buy food stuffs. With an inflation rate of over 400% prices of basics now go up on a daily basis. While urban estimates are not clear a government official recently put the figure at 2.2 Million bring the a total of 7.7 Million a number which is almost half the population. The usual dry areas like Masvingo, Matebeland are even worse.

A boy picks up wild fruits in rural Zimbabwe

Zimbabweans are now living in extreme poverty with only a few politically linked surviving the harsh economy. Urban areas are at high risk of Cholera outbreak as the water crisis continues to bite. When Zimbabweans marched to remove R.G Mugabe in 2017 November many thought things would change but it has only gotten worse with no end in sight. The once decorated Professor  Mthuli Ncube is failing to lift the dead economy.