[Oh God! Here we go again with more Mugabe lies and disinformation. Then they need food, then they don”t. Today it is left, tomorrow it is right; and so the liars need to flip flop and change their tune from day to day. Bunch of liars. All I want to see is Mugabe”s rotten regime collapsing – or being wiped out by someone.

I am very suspicious about all the “food shortages” all the countries in the region are claiming to have. We who live here, are not seeing any signs of drought. So why are so many countries around Zimbabwe claiming to have food shortages – and this includes Botswana and Lesotho. I have floated the theory in the past that perhaps some countries are claiming to have food shortages and are then channelling the aid thus received secretly to Zimbabwe? I find it extremely suspicious that for 4 straight years – which is just a little longer than the food crisis has existed in Zimbabwe – that other countries in the region are claiming to also have food shortages. Why then, isn”t South Africa in the midst of a country-wide drought? S.Africa is actually quite an arid country normally, yet we have food when others with better rainfall, don”t have food. Yes, there is a bit of drought here and there – but we are not seeing massive drought in S.Africa itself. Yet, Lesotho, which exists within the boundaries of S.Africa is now claiming to have a drought. I have mentioned my suspicions before, and I even more curious now. Jan]

Despite an estimated 4.5 million Zimbabweans needing food aid this year, the government insists there is no need to launch an official appeal for international assistance.

“No state of disaster will be declared, and there are no plans to appeal for food aid,” Leonard Turugari of the ministry of public service, labour and social welfare, told delegates at a regional food security meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday.

The two-day gathering of government representatives, UN agencies and NGOs from the region aimed to tackle specific challenges arising from a decline in agricultural production in recent years.

Several southern African countries are entering a fourth year of food shortages and the UN World Food Programme says it needs US $266 million to assist more than 10 million vulnerable people across the region.

Turugari said his government had the capacity to import 1.2 million mt of maize, the staple grain, in the coming months, to make up for a shortfall in national output. He attributed the downturn in production to lingering drought conditions and economic difficulties.

Although there were no plans on the table to ask the international community to step in and kick-start a general food distribution programme, Turugari said the “door was not closed to donors”. NGOs could continue giving assistance to the vulnerable, provided they worked “within their mandates”.

International NGOs operating in Zimbabwe have come under fire from the government for allegedly using food aid to campaign for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC); on the other hand, the MDC has claimed that the government used food as a political weapon by withholding it from perceived opponents.

When asked if there was a guarantee that the 1.2 million mt of imported maize, which is to be distributed by the state-controlled Grain Marketing Board, would be channelled to the most vulnerable, Turugari said there was “no evidence to the contrary”.

He also commented that, contrary to reports, the scarcity of basic commodities was due to producers hoarding essential items.

Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507080880.htm…br>