Roadblocks set-up to search for maize

Police in Zimbabwe have set up roadblocks on major roads in a bid to prevent privately acquired maize from reaching urban centres. Farmers are required to sell all their maize stocks to the state's Grain Marketing Board (GMB), which, by law, is the sole purchaser of maize and wheat grown in the country. The GMB also has a monopoly on the distribution of maize. The police, in conjunction with officials from the GMB, began conducting maize searches at roadblocks at the start of the harvest season in the middle of the year. All commuters from rural areas are ordered to disembark and their possessions searched. Any bags of maize confiscated at roadblocks are forfeit to the state. Despite the slow-down in official inflation - the annualised inflation rate stood at 314 percent in August, down from 362 percent in July - prices of basic commodities have not stopped rising. This has prompted urban residents to try to purchase maize from rural areas, rather than pay the higher prices demanded in city shops. However, they must run the gauntlet of police checks. "The police took all my bags of maize. It is expensive to buy mealie-meal [maize-meal] in Harare, and I decided to take maize bags from my rural area," a disgruntled James Shumba told IRIN. Another Harare resident, civil servant John Daudi, said he could not afford to buy maize-meal from the shops. "At the end of every month I visit my village and collect maize from there, but I travel at night to avoid the police," he said. Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka refused to comment on the issue. A GMB official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the GMB had asked the police to set up roadblocks in order catch "illegal marketers" of maize, as this could "sabotage" government efforts to feed the country. The Minister of Social Welfare, Paul Mangwana, told IRIN the government was distributing food in needy areas and would make sure nobody starved.