Businesspeople benefit from food aid

NKAYI — It has become routine that villagers who are bene ciaries of government and donors’ food support in Nkayi and other districts in Matabeleland North province are forced to pay for transportation of the aid.

The hard-pressed villagers are demanding that the aid should be free as it is purported to be.

Villagers said they have witnessed “undeserving people such as businesspeople and villagers with valuable property such as cars and cattle being the rst to bene t”.

Vulnerable groups are left out for not “providing transportation”.

A villager Cosmas Kodzanai speaking at a virtual debate under Nkayi Community Parliament, raised concerns over the issue.

“How can someone who owns a house, cars, shops bene t when we have old people dying because of poverty?” Kodzanai asked.

“Investigate this because it is not fair for people who own shops, houses, cars to bene t under social welfare when people die of hunger.

“It's high time we take action about ward 29.” Lovemore Nkomazana, a former Senate candidate, says this has been going on for years.

“It’s so sad that when there is distribution of farming inputs, you will notice only business people are registered. You get surprised why the business people who are selling the inputs get aid instead of the vulnerable?” Nkomazana queried.

He likened social welfare to non- governmental organisations that visit the communities and leave people divided after only calling for those without cattle to bene t.

A villager and businessman, Mqondisi Ndebele, says there is a serious crisis on social welfare in Nkayi.

“Everywhere besides ward 29 people who bene t do not deserve because maize is sold,” Ndebele said.

“I have not seen where people get it for free because they are made to pay some money. I went to the Zamazama area and found elderly women not getting the aid because they had no money to pay for transport.

“When people pay $150 to get maize, someone without money ends up not getting the maize.

“I discovered the maize was being sold because when you are required to pay some money — that is buying.

“The poor are getting nothing, but there are village heads that even get aid rst when their subjects are not. I even witnessed people with disabilities not getting the aid.”

Ndebele implicated village heads for failing to protect the community from this corruption.

South Africa-based Nkayi villager Maxwell Masina says the Zanu PF government controls the NGOs from lower structures who discriminate against the villagers in that some have cattle and some have children in South Africa.

Permanent secretary in the Labour and Social Welfare ministry Simon Masango says he is not aware of the issue and advised this publication to check with the provincial social welfare o ce.

However, e orts to talk to the social welfare of cials were not successful.