Access to food aid politicised says lobby group

With hunger stalking urban and rural Zimbabweans, the government on Thursday dismissed allegations that access to food aid had been politicised.

In its report titled Zimbabwe At The Crossroads: Transition or Conflict, the International Crisis Group (ICG) alleges that "maize imports were, and are, directed first to areas of greatest support for the ruling party [ZANU-PF]".

On Thursday Edward Mamutse, a government spokesman in Zimbabwe's Department of Information and Publicity, said: "There's nothing of the sort. The Ministry of Agriculture is working on prioritising areas. The more acute the need, the greater the priority for relief. This country and government is not facing drought for the first time. In 1992 we had a crippling drought [but government] devised a scheme to send food right round the country."

When the World Food Programme (WFP) launched a US $60 million appeal in December to feed about 550,000 people in need, WFP regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Judith Lewis, told IRIN that WFP and other assessments indicated rural populations were in dire need. She dismissed concerns that the aid would be used politically, saying the operations would be closely monitored so as to provide donors with feedback.

In its report ICG said: "With Zimbabwe's agricultural production suffering as a result of farm invasions and general economic mismanagement, access to food was often politicised during the campaign and the [9-11 March presidential] election itself.

"At a time of severe deprivation, the government released supplies of mealie meal, the staple food for the majority of Zimbabweans, on the day of the election in certain [opposition Movement for Democratic Change] MDC strongholds.

"Its intention was that the guaranteed long lines for food would reduce the number of people able to vote. During the campaign, in some [of Zimbabwe's] Grain Marketing Board outlets, buyers had to have a ZANU-PF party card."

Mamutse strongly denied the allegation and questioned ICG's agenda. "Who are their sponsors, one could find that they are the same power blocs that are against this country. NGOs here, some of them are media freedom agitators, when we trace their background sponsorships we come back to the very same people, the United States and Britain. For us it has become routine to look at who is sponsoring which NGO and saying what.

"As to the food crisis, yes our harvest here is going to be extremely poor, but this is because of the weather. We had extremely promising crops and then the rains just stopped. But it probably suits some people to attribute it to land reform. They want to [link] the drought, politics and economy in the same breath, but it really won't hold."

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), meanwhile, said on Thursday that a Zimbabwean journalist working for a British newspaper had been arrested and faced a charge of writing false information about President Robert Mugabe.

MISA said the charge carried a fine of Z$20,000 (US $350) or one year in prison, or both. Peta Thornycroft, who writes for the Daily Telegraph, was arrested on Wednesday in Chimanimani.

"Although the police have said that they are charging her with writing falsely about the president, evidence or mention of the 'false' story is yet to be made available. MISA-Zimbabwe understands that the police initially said that they wanted to question Thornycroft over accreditation. After holding her for five hours she was then charged with writing 'false information' about the president," MISA said in a statement.

The organisation said Thornycroft was in Chimanimani to interview victims of political violence "that is escalating in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections". She had not conducted any interviews before being arrested.

"Soon after her arrest, Thornycroft phoned MISA-Zimbabwe and said that she was being questioned about her accreditation status. In an effort to have her accreditation status ascertained, MISA-Zimbabwe phoned Edward Mamutse ... in the Department of Information and Publicity so that the issue could be clarified to facilitate her release," MISA said.

However, Mamutse said his department had not yet received a report from the police and could do nothing about the matter.

Thornycroft is expected to appear in court soon.