The government, which had ordered the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace to stop food distribution in Binga, was forced to resume after pressure from the United States government and the Vatican, according to a cable released by Wikileaks.
The cable says President Robert Mugabe had to intervene personally after the government failed to move against war veterans.
The war veterans, acting on the orders of Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, had forced the CCJP to stop food distribution and hindered any attempts to deliver the much needed food to hospitals and school children.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 02HARARE1714, ZIMBABWE: FOOD DISTRIBUTION RESTARTS IN ONE
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001714
SIPDIS
USAID FOR AFR/SA MCOPSON; DCHA/FFP LLANDIS, DSKORIC
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER
LONDON FOR CGURNEY
PARIS FOR CNEARY
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2012
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE: FOOD DISTRIBUTION RESTARTS IN ONE
OPPOSITION AREA BUT THREATS OF INTERFERENCE ARISE IN
ANOTHER
REF: HARARE 1398
Classified By: Political Officer Todd Faulk for reasons 1.5 (b)
and (d)
¶1. (C) Post has learned from Amcit Father Tom McQuillen that
the Catholic Church has been permitted to restart food
distribution in the beleaguered Binga district of
Matabeleland North province in Zimbabwe. War veterans,
acting on the order of Local Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo, forced the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace
(CCJP) to cease food distribution efforts throughout Binga in
late May, and hindered attempts to deliver much-needed food
to hospitals and school children (reftel). Chombo had
accused the CCJP of improperly assuming government functions
and ordered its operation closed, despite the fact that the
CCJP had become one of the largest sources of food for rural
Binga residents. A major element of ZANU-PF concern was
clearly that the CCJP leader in Binga is an MDC candidate in
local council elections. Father McQuillen informed us that
after an agreement was reached with local government, the All
Souls Catholic Church in Binga and Catholic charities of the
Zimbabwean Catholic Church was permitted to take over CCJP’s
program, and it started distributing food again on July 22
with the help of Catholics for Overseas Development (CAFOD),
a British NGO. CAFOD made arrangements with local trucking
companies for All Souls to deliver 85 tons of mostly maize
meal during the week of July 22; it was able to deliver 23
tons to schools and hospitals on the first day alone. Father
McQuillen reported that the hunger situation in Binga
district has become acute; many teachers are reporting empty
classrooms because children have been too weak to go to
school. (Comment: That should start to change with the new
deliveries. End comment.) As part of the distribution
agreement, All Souls sent letters to all Church centers in
the district informing them of the distribution and asking
them to report any attempt to politicize the food deliveries
or segregate recipients based on political affiliation.
¶2. (C) It was only after the Binga incidents generated much
bad publicity and public pressure from the USG and Vatican
that the Government worked to find a solution. According to
the Apostolic Nuncio, it had been difficult for the
Government to move against the war vets but that President
Mugabe himself had eventually sought positive resolution of
the problem (some six weeks after it originated).
¶3. (U) While relief was restarting in Binga, government
officials threatened to stop food deliveries to opposition
supporters in another opposition stronghold, Gwanda district
in Matabeleland South province. According to the independent
“Standard” newspaper, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister
Abedinico Ncube threatened to stop food deliveries at a July
20 public meeting if residents did not vote for ZANU-PF in
September rural council elections. “Maize is in abundance
but very soon it will be available only to those who dump the
opposition and work with ZANU-PF.” While handing out food,
Ncube also reportedly told the recipients that “as long as
you value the government of the day you will not starve …
(but) you cannot vote for the MDC and expect ZANU-PF to help
you.” In another case of food politicization, the MDC
released a press statement about a July 12 meeting in which
the ZANU-PF M.P. for Beitbridge, Kembo Mohadi, warned World
Vision and Organization Help that their food relief work was
at “government’s invitation” and that they must follow the
Government’s directives. Mohadi reportedly asked the NGOs
for a list of the equipment it was using to distribute food
and said “Government” would soon be taking over the food
distribution. He also reportedly stated that he was part of
a “Cabinet Committee on Social Services Action” and that
similar meetings were taking place across the country. The
MDC statement noted that Mohadi held the meeting in Gwanda
town, which is represented in Parliament by MDC M.P. Paul
Temba-Nyathi, and that no MDC officials were invited to the
meeting. However, local war veterans and representatives
from the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board were
present.
¶4. (U) World Vision Zimbabwe Director Rudo Kwaramba told us
and the press separately that politicians could talk, but
that no food distributed by World Vision had been nor would
be politicized.
——-
Comment
——-
¶5. (C) The incidents described above demonstrate the
pressing need for an independent monitoring mechanism. We
are working with DFID here to develop a proposal that the EU
can join us in supporting. Our objective is to provide
funding to the UN or one of its agencies, which in turn will
contact an outside organization to conduct the monitoring.
The UN’s involvement is necessary, as they are the only ones
capable of eliciting GOZ agreement to permit monitoring. We
would also specify that the outside contractor gather
information from all available Zimbabwean sources as to the
fairness and impartiality of food distribution.
SULLIVAN
(18 VIEWS)
