“It is not the first time that we are having a drought in Zimbabwe and we have always said in government that nobody will die of hunger and still no one is going to die of hunger in Zimbabwe,” said VP Mohadi after receiving newly appointed UN residence coordinator Maria Ribeiro.
“We are going to marshal all the resources that we have towards the provision of food for our people and if need be, then we will call other people like the World Food Programme (WFP) to assist us but definitely we are on top of the situation,” said Mohadi.
This is the arrogant defiance of a regime that knows it is not accountable to anyone. The WFP people are already in the country and have been feeding millions of Zimbabweans for a long time.
A few weeks ago the WFP was appealing for US$200 million to source food for 8 million Zimbabweans are otherwise facing starvation.
Of course, many Zimbabweans have died of starvation in the past and many more will died.
The WB reported that 90% of Zimbabweans are poor and 34% of them live in extreme poverty. It is common knowledge that many poor families have one meal a day comprising of maize meal porridge and vegetables. It is no surprise that many Zimbabweans are malnourished and many children have died of marasmus (a lack of protein and calories) and kwashiorkor (a lack of just protein).
Zimbabwe has very few reported cases of marasmus, kwashiorkor or other malnutrition related deaths not because there are none; every health worker, especially the foreign ones, know they will be in deep trouble if they reported the truth. Like so many other tyrannical regime, Zimbabwe has perfected the art of denying the truth even when it is staring them in the face!
“We are going to marshal all the resources to food for our people and if need be, then we will call other people like the World Food Programme (WFP)!” As if he does not know the WFP is already in Zimbabwe feeding 8 millions, half the country’s population, facing starvation.
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WFP had no choice but step in and source food to feed the 8 million Zimbabweans facing starvation, the Zimbabwe government was caught napping yet again. The WFP have made it clear that this crisis was a man-made crisis.
There is a drought in Southern Africa region affecting many countries including Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. Whilst all the other countries in the region are able to source food to feed their people, not so with Zimbabwe because the country’s economy has all but completely collapse.
Forty years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have all but destroyed the Zimbabwe economy. Of course, the UN is right; Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and starvation are all man-made problems. The tragedy is that the people of Zimbabwe themselves have not waken up to this political reality much less do something about it.
I agree, many Zimbabweans have died of marasmus, kwashiorkor or other malnutrition related deaths; Zanu PF is renowned for suppressing the truth and supplanting it with falsehoods.
The country’s public health care has all but collapsed there is no doubt that that millions are suffering and hundreds are dying every week of easily treatable ailments. The regime will not admit this nor will it get much donor help since the world knows the regime is squandering millions of dollars beefing up the Police State and wasting billions of dollars on luxuries and corruption.
If Zimbabweans think the problem of bad governance will go away of its own, they are naive and wrong.
@ Mechavio
“The fact many people are facing food shortages does not mean many have died of hunger Nomsa. As a matter of fact thousands have died as a result of MDCA sanction you celebrate.”
In a country where unemployment has been 80% plus since the start of the first hyperinflation period, 2000 to 2008; it is no surprise that 90% of the population are poor and 34% are living in extreme poverty, according to a recent WB report. Hunger is a constant companion of the poor and for those living in extreme poverty marasmus and kwashiorkor are as common as obesity amongst the rich.
Just because Zanu PF has suppressed the true facts on poverty, kwashiorkor, etc. does not meaning there is no poverty and no one has ever died of hunger! It only means we have a regime that does not care about the suffering and deaths of the ordinary people!
Here we go again, we are talking about the 90% of the people who are poor because Zanu PF has denied them a meaningful say in the governance of the country and you are bring in MDC and the sanctions. Why are ordinary Zimbabweans being denied their right to free, fair and credible elections for whatever MDC has done or failed to do?
Tyrants have always come up with all manner of feeble excuses to justify their tyranny and for Zanu PF sanctions has been the favourite excuse. SADC leaders have reportedly dumped the call to have the sanctions lifted and are now focused on demanding that Zanu PF implement the reforms to restore the individual freedoms and rights!
@ Pasi Mapamba
“Thanx bro these conspiracy theorists must think people are stupid ....Nomusa is over exaggerating things why? Read in-between the lines she is on Payroll ....these guyz take to fake news and conspiracy theories like fish to water .....were is the evidence let the be sources tell us of health workers who have been perse cuted for reporting kwashioker or hunger 😂as much as the previous Government has failed the opposition has failed to put up any meaningful opposition..now this misinformation only makes us a laughing stock for what for you to put Chamisa in office? Fuck u”
Over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans have been murdered in cold blood to establish and retain the de facto one-party Zanu PF dictatorship, 7 on 1st August 2018 and 17 in January 2019. How many people have ever been arrested for these heinous crimes? If you care about justice then why have you not demanded the arrest of these cold-blooded murderers before making a farce about death certificates listing everything else under the sun as the cause of death but not kwashiorkor or some such hunger related disease!
What makes Zimbabwe a laughing stock is village idiots like you who continue to defend the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship out of a totally misplaced sense of patriotism and/or shortsightedness and greed. Zimbabwe is a banana republic that has driven millions of its people into abject poverty and despair - what is there to be proud of in that!
Minister Ncube said while half a billion was going to find its way into the economy in the first half of 2020, it would injected sparingly to keep Zimbabwe’s broad money supply — widely believed to be a major driver of inflation — in check.
Broad money is notes, coins in circulation and all deposits within banks, what is called total stock of money.
In the third quarter of 2019, Treasury declared a budget surplus of $59,3 million, according to a third quarter bulletin by the Finance Ministry.
“We did very well in 2019 and the budget deficit stayed within targets of four percent. We are determined this year to keep it at 1,5 percent of GDP and that will contribute to currency stability.
Professor Mthuli Ncube has been a curse to the nation. He knew that for Zimbabwe to have any economic recovery the country needed to attract local and foreign investors and financial assistance from the likes of IMF and WB. He also knew that Zimbabwe was a pariah state and as long as that remains the country had no chance of any meaningful economic recovery.
By blatantly rigging the elections Zanu PF confirmed the country was still a pariah state. Of course, Professor Ncube knew Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections and therefore the country had no chance of economic recovery. So for all Minister Ncube has done, particularly all the austerity measures, he knew the sacrifices were all for nothing because Zimbabwe was a pariah state. Curse him!
How many times have MDC come up with these deadlines, remember Morgan Tsvangirai's "final push"? How many times have these deadlines fizzled to nothing?
MDC participated in the July 2018 elections although it was clear as day that Zanu PF was going to rig the elections. The EU, Americans, Commonwealth and everybody with any democratic credentials condemned the elections as a farce. By participating, MDC gave the illegitimate election and thus this illegitimate Zanu PF regime some modicum of legitimacy. Whatever MDC is now offering the nation is this so called "people’s Agenda 2020 to the nation come what may.#peoplesgovernment", it will not undo the damage done by MDC participating in the July 2018 elections.
MDC is renowned for wasting time and resources chasing shadows particularly when the party has other clear cut causes it should be chasing.
In the 2018 elections the real big issue was making sure the elections were free, fair and credible. The MDC participated in the said elections even when ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll. Challenging the result on the basis of how the vote count were collated is nonsense when the whole elections process lacked transparency, traceability and verifiability.
Mnangagwa and the Zanu PF regime are illegitimate on the ground the July 2018 elections were NOT free, fair and credible. The attempt to consider Mnangagwa illegitimate on the grounds that he appointed some acting president but stayed in the country and even carries out some presidential duties is frivolous.
It was Advocate Thabani Mpofu who headed the MDC July 2018 elections result challenge and he is the one giving this pathetic opinion. Sad!
The Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) has said attempts by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration to make fundamental changes to the national Constitution fly in the face of global democratic best practices.
LSZ president Thandaza Masiye-Moyo told journalists last week that the proposed constitutional amendments were retrogressive.
Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi late last year came out guns blazing accusing the LSZ of having lost its moral compass and acting like activists after the latter warned against tampering with the Constitution.
Ziyambi had been incensed by a hard-hitting statement by the LSZ following reports Mnangagwa among other things wanted to amend the Constitution and allow for the direct appointment of the Chief Justice by the President in consultation with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
But Masiye-Moyo stuck to his guns.
"We have been criticised by the Minister of Justice who argues we seem to have gone off our lane to use his words and turned ourselves into activists. The point we insist on making is that we are very much within our mandate if you look at the Legal Practitioners Act. What we did and continue to do is exactly what is expected of us. It is our firmly held belief that the proposed amendments to the Constitution are by nature very retrogressive except perhaps for one which relates to gender equality," Masiye-Moyo said.
Our constitution was "dictated" by the late Robert Mugabe, a ruthless dictator, and it is no wonder that it has failed to delivery one of its key requirements - free, fair and credible elections.
It is a great pity but it comes as no surprise that this illegitimate Zanu PF regime is seeking to amend the weak and feeble constitution for selfish individual gain. This will make the feeble constitution even worse and utterly useless. But this only helps to underscore the need for the country to revisit the 2008 Global Political Agreement and get the reforms properly implemented.
THE restrictive measures imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States will remain in place until President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration implemented the necessary political and economic reforms key to restoring the troubled country’s democracy and prosperity, the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe said Wednesday.
Nichols challenged the government to satisfy conditions laid out in the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) or remain under sanctions.
Nichols said in 2019, the US gave over US$370 million to Zimbabwe and another US$110 million to mitigate the drought and the effects of Cyclone Idai.
There is overwhelming evidence that Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is a result of 40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and pariah state lawlessness by this incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical de facto Zanu PF one-party dictatorship. And the sanctions have contributed little to the economic meltdown.
The sanctions have helped highlight the need for meaningful political reform. Zimbabweans have failed to remove Zanu PF from office because the party has usurped the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the running of the country and even the right to life.
Until we end the curse of the de facto one-party dictatorship, the curse of rigged elections and the curse of pariah state there will be no end to the economic meltdown. Since the sanctions highlight the need for political reforms, the sanctions must stay and be stepped up.
There is no doubt that by participating in the flawed and illegal elections MDC leaders have given this illegitimate Zanu PF regime some modicum of legitimacy. MDC leaders have become Zanu PF’s number one partners in crime and they must be included on the sanctions list.
Zimbabweans like Professor Mthuli Ncube, Trevor Ncube, Kirsty Coventry, etc. have decided to work for this Zanu PF dictatorship knowing fully well that the regime rigged the 2018 elections. They continued cooperation with the regime is undermining the sacrifice others are making in putting the regime under pressure to resign. It is high time the world showed its displeasure with these sell-outs. The sell-outs must be put under increasing pressure, including adding them to the sanctions list, to step down.
The US government was waiting for the local administration’s figures on funds needed in 2020 to limit the effects of the drought.
“We stand with the people of Zimbabwe and we will cooperate closely to ensure that the challenges of hunger are met in this country,” he said.
THE restrictive measures imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States will remain in place until President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration implemented the necessary political and economic reforms key to restoring the troubled country’s democracy and prosperity, the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe said Wednesday.
Nichols challenged the government to satisfy conditions laid out in the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) or remain under sanctions.
Nichols said in 2019, the US gave over US$370 million to Zimbabwe and another US$110 million to mitigate the drought and the effects of Cyclone Idai.
There is overwhelming evidence that Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is a result of 40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and pariah state lawlessness by this incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical de facto Zanu PF one-party dictatorship. And the sanctions have contributed little to the economic meltdown.
The sanctions have helped highlight the need for meaningful political reform. Zimbabweans have failed to remove Zanu PF from office because the party has usurped the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the running of the country and even the right to life.
Until we end the curse of the de facto one-party dictatorship, the curse of rigged elections and the curse of pariah state there will be no end to the economic meltdown. Since the sanctions highlight the need for political reforms, the sanctions must stay and be stepped up.
There is no doubt that by participating in the flawed and illegal elections MDC leaders have given this illegitimate Zanu PF regime some modicum of legitimacy. MDC leaders have become Zanu PF’s number one partners in crime and they must be included on the sanctions list.
Zimbabweans like Professor Mthuli Ncube, Trevor Ncube, Kirsty Coventry, etc. have decided to work for this Zanu PF dictatorship knowing fully well that the regime rigged the 2018 elections. They continued cooperation with the regime is undermining the sacrifice others are making in putting the regime under pressure to resign. It is high time the world showed its displeasure with these sell-outs. The sell-outs must be put under increasing pressure, including adding them to the sanctions list, to step down.
A LOT of teachers in government schools this week reported for work when classes opened for 2020 for fear of victimisation by government and State security agents, but are staging sit-ins and no schooling is taking place, NewZimbabwe.com has learnt.
The teachers had last week, through their trade unions, vowed not to return to work when schools opened on Tuesday saying they were incapacitated.
Zimbabwe’s education and health care services are all but dead.
The ban of opposition leader Nelson Chamisa's so called Hope of the Nation Address (HONA) by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is justified as it was meant to disrupt smooth opening of first term schools calendar and incite civil servants to join teachers who had threatened to go on strike.
The adamant Chamisa vowed to continue with his useless address which was scheduled for January 15, postponing it to Tuesday 21 January.
As much as the nation needs a roadmap out of this mess it is clear as day that MDC is not going to provide that roadmap. This HONA is just another one of the party's "final punish" guaranteed to come to nothing!
Zimbabwe is desperate for a way out of this nightmare and the last thing the nation needs is these foolish gimmicks!
A top EU diplomat has revealed the two major drivers of food shortages in Zimbabwe.
Timo Olkkonen, who is the EU ambassador to Zimbabwe said corruption and mismanagement of the agricultural sector are the major drivers of food shortages in Zimbabwe, where over 7,7 million people urgently require food.
Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday soon after the release of an additional US$18,7 million kitty to help alleviate hunger in Zimbabwe, ambassador Olkkonen said this could not have been necessary if the government had properly managed its business.
“Obviously there is this link to the climate change phenomena and the drought that has been induced in southern Africa, but it has been shown also very clearly in the report by the UN rapporteur on the right to food that the situation that makes food insecurity such a grave issue in Zimbabwe is the mismanagement of the agricultural sector in recent years,” he said.
“So large areas are lying fallow. There is no much investment coming into farming and this is related to the issues around governance and how the agricultural sector is performing. So, these issues, for example the subsidy system, has caused a lot of problems, like Command Agriculture. We have read issue about mismanagement around it and these are compounding issues around it.”
Could not agree with the ambassador more! Zimbabweans have been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime for 40 years because the party has rigged elections all these years. Zimbabwe will never get out of this mess until the country implements the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
The only sure way to get the reforms implemented is to demand that Zanu PF resigns so the nation can finally have the reforms implemented.
Nelson Chamisa's Harare 21st January 2020 address was dubbed "Nation's Agenda 2020" or "Nation's Plan of Action: 2020" As much as the nation is desperate for change it is as day this so called MDC's plan is not going to bring about any change. Zimbabwe has blundered from pillar to post, these last 40 years; the blundering has not stopped.
Chamisa did not say anything new in his two hours or so long address. He has repeated the same confused demands MDC has made soon after the 2018 elections. No one supported MDC's demands then, because they did not make sense, and no one will support them now, because they still do not make any sense and, rightly so too, have given up hope on getting anything sensible from MDC.
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