Once the ‘Breadbasket of Africa’, Zim receives US$11,3m in food aid

RECENTLY, the United States Agency for International Development in conjunction with the World Food Programme announced the shipment of US$11,3 million worth of food aid to Zimbabwe, which is currently facing a food shortage crisis.

The aid is to be distributed initially to around 230 000 people, with those in the hardest-hit rural areas, particularly women and children, given a first priority.

A culmination of drought brought on by El Niño, an ongoing economic crisis and farm mismanagement has contributed to the food crisis.

In October 2023, the government announced its intention to pay white former farmers who had their farms forcibly taken during the late Robert Mugabe’s administration with government Treasury bonds.

The land seizure policy triggered a period of extreme hyperinflation, famine and starvation in the mid-2000s.

After a visit to the nation in 2019, United Nations expert on the right to food, Hilal Elver, claimed that the nation was on the brink of “man-made starvation”, continuing, “More than 60% of the population of a country once seen as the breadbasket of Africa is now considered food-insecure, with most households unable to obtain enough food to meet basic needs due to hyperinflation.”

Speaking in November 2023, Zimbabwe’s Finance minister Mthuli Ncube predicted a contraction of the country’s gross domestic product from 5,5% in 2023 to 3,5% in 2024.

Zimbabwean elite, however, have differing opinions on what has caused the nation’s food crisis.

In late 2023, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga claimed it is sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union for the past 20 years that have crippled its economy.

According to the Institute of Security Studies: “The targeted sanctions were applied in response to human rights violations, government policies and actions that impede democracy, rule of law and respect for human and property rights.”

However, James O’Brien, sanctions co-ordinator for the US Department of State, claims it is deep-rooted corruption, and not sanctions, fuelling Zimbabwe’s descent into failed State.

During a digital Press briefing in October 2022, O’Brien pointed to the billions of dollars of “annual illegitimate, illegal, cross-border transactions”, which serve to enrich the elite and impoverish the Zimbabwean average citizen.

Continuing, “We are focused on the people who benefit from corruption and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. That’s the behaviour we are attempting to change. Our sanctions are only one part of a policy to improve the situation there.”