Food relief agencies were put in a quandary in 2002 over allegations that food was being distributed along political lines with those opposed to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front being denied food.
But, according to a cable released by Wikileaks, the dilemma was that investigations tended to indicate that such abuses were episodic rather than centrally manipulated.
The situation was compounded by hardliners like Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo. In a speech on May 18 in Binga town, he ordered the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace to close down its operations in Binga because it had created structures that competed with the government’s.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 02HARARE1398, ZIMBABWE GOVERNMENT HINDERING FOOD DELIVERIES IN
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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 03 HARARE 001398
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF AND AF/S
USAID FOR AA/AFR, AA/DCHA, LPA
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER
LONDON FOR CGURNEY
PARIS FOR CNEARY
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2012
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ASEC ZI
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE GOVERNMENT HINDERING FOOD DELIVERIES IN
OPPOSITION STRONGHOLD - A PORTENT OF POLICY PROBLEMS AHEAD
REF: HARARE 1307
Classified By: Political Officer Todd Faulk for reasons 1.5 (b)
and (d)
¶1. (C) Summary: Assertions of humanitarian food aid
manipulation for political purposes have been increasingly
frequent in recent weeks. Investigations have tended to
indicate that such abuses are episodic rather than centrally
manipulated. However, recent reports from the Matabeleland
town of Binga have confirmed a serious and significant
attempt to deprive the needy of food aid for political and
historical reasons. This is worrisome in the context of
recent discussions between staff members of the House
International Relations Committee (HIRC) and Minister of
Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare July Moyo (reftel),
who implied that the GOZ is willing to accept food aid, but
only on its owns terms. There is the appearance that the GOZ
is playing poker with the donors, staking the welfare of
food-vulnerable Zimbabweans against donor demands for
responsible policy reform on the assumption that the donors
will fold in the face of impending humanitarian catastrophe
for which they will be blamed. This approach, if pushed to
its limit, poses a serious dilemma for U.S. policy toward the
humanitarian relief program in Zimbabwe. It will be
important to continue to do what we can to prevent human
suffering, but simultaneously we cannot lose sight of the
fact that yielding to GOZ demands that we play by their rules
will be at best a palliative, but not a curative, measure.
End Summary.
------------------
Situation in Binga
------------------
¶2. (C) In an effort to assert greater control over who
receives increasingly scarce food in Zimbabwe, the
Government, with the aid of war veterans and others, is
disrupting food deliveries in Binga, a predominantly Ndebele
district and opposition stronghold in Matabeleland North
province. In a speech on May 18 in Binga town, Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo ordered the Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), an NGO distributing
food relief in Binga, to close down its operations in Binga
because it had created structures that compete with the
government's, according to the June 5 edition of the
independent "Daily News." War veterans subsequently
surrounded the CCJP's food warehouse in Binga town, at the
southern end of Lake Kariba, to prevent any food supplies
from leaving the premises. The CCJP feeding program
distributes food purchased by the British Catholic charity
CAFOD. (Note: U.S. assistance distributed through WFP and
cooperating NGOs has not been similarly affected as yet. End
note.) On June 5, poloff spoke to Tarcisius Zimbiti, acting
director of CCJP, who verified that the story is essentially
true, and added that the war veterans took action only after
Chombo made his speech. Zimbiti stated that although CCJP
cannot get any more food out of the warehouse in town, it is
still able to conduct limited food relief operations in rural
areas of Binga district using whatever supplies were already
outside the warehouse. Zimbiti was unsure of the number of
people affected in the district because of the war veterans'
actions, but confirmed that CCJP was unable to continue
supplying hospitals and schools in the district. CCJP is
seeking a court injunction against the war veterans to compel
them to lift their siege, and it has repeatedly sought a
meeting with Minister Chombo, only to be told he is
"unavailable" until next week. An American priest based in
Binga and the Apostolic Nuncio have also expressed concern
about restrictions on church feeding programs. The Nuncio
intended to inform the Vatican and complain to the Foreign
Ministry.
¶3. (C) The disruption of Binga food deliveries is not only a
Government attempt to control food distribution but it is an
extension of the Government's hostility toward Catholic and
other religious institutions critical of the Government's
human rights abuses, according to Shari Eppel, director of
Amani Trust/Matabeleland, a widely respected human rights
organization based in Bulawayo. In addition to the CCJP
warehouse, the war vets barricaded the Catholic church in
Binga and prevented the priests there from leaving for
several days. Nearly every day, the government-owned
Bulawayo "Chronicle" comes out with an article blasting
Bulawayo Archbishop Pius Ncube or the Catholic Church for
their critical statements, Eppel stated. According to
another embassy source, the current standoff in Binga may be
an extension of a long-time feud between local war veterans
and the CCJP, which drafted the "Breaking the Silence" report
that exposed the government-ordered "Gukurahundi" massacres
of the 1980s in which thousands died.
¶4. (C) When asked about looming starvation in Binga, Eppel
iterated that food shortages are very serious throughout
Matabeleland North. Some areas have not received any
deliveries for three weeks, and CCJP is now a major source of
food for many people, especially in areas far from Grain
Marketing Board silos. People are undoubtedly dying, Eppel
stated, but so far, it is mainly the sick and elderly. It is
difficult to say whether AIDS, old age, or the lack of food
is the primary cause of death. "Would they have lived
another six months or a year had they had access to adequate
food? It is hard to tell," she said.
--------------------------------------------- -------
GOZ Puts on Poker Face and Sings "I'll Do It My Way"
--------------------------------------------- -------
¶5. (C) In a May 31 meeting with Minister of Public Service,
Labor and Social Welfare July Moyo (reftel), HIRC staffers
Pearl Alice Marsh and Malik Chaka posed several pointed
questions about the root causes and likely GOZ responses to
the growing food aid crisis. Moyo's responses were
instructive as to government thinking, or the lack thereof,
on what should be their number-one policy priority for the
short term. Moyo sought to keep Zimbabwe in the regional
herd by noting that all countries in the region are suffering
to some extent from drought, and he downplayed the role of
farming disruption caused by the ongoing "fast-track"
exercise. He noted several times that no farmer had been
forced from his/her land and deprived of the opportunity to
produce, an assertion that is patent absurdity when examined
in the light of corroborated fact. Moyo retreated to
standard ZANU-PF rhetoric, implying that other versions of
reality were largely a public relations ploy by Commercial
Farmers' Union (CFU) members seeking to enlist popular
support for a land reform effort more to the CFU's liking.
¶6. (C) True to form, Moyo also saved some criticism for the
international donor community, characterizing their response
to the crisis as "low." He acknowledged the severity of the
crisis and the need for assistance but fell back to the
position that the GOZ would, absent sufficient outside help,
do what was necessary to avoid famine and death from
starvation. He recited the litany of agricultural pipe
dreams stored in the GOZ's rhetorical pouch - resettler wheat
production, winter maize, increased agricultural inputs for
next year - without ever admitting that basic policy reform
is necessary to reverse the crisis. Moyo did not address the
potential private sector role in resolving the supply crisis
and did not link admitted funding constraints caused by forex
shortages to artificial exchange rates and similar policy
failures.
¶7. (C) Challenged to explain Zimbabwe's huge grain deficit
in comparison to other countries in the region, Moyo
rationalized that Zimbabwe's "fall" from a relatively better
position than its neighbors exacerbated this impression. In
perhaps his most shocking statement, Moyo asserted that a
more robust humanitarian response by donors would provide the
GOZ resources to rebuild the country. The sub-text was clear
- the GOZ wants more donor assistance, but without strings
and on GOZ terms. The refrain was equally clear - if donor
assistance under these conditions is not forthcoming, the
international community will share blame with the GOZ for the
humanitarian disaster that will follow.
-------
Comment
-------
¶8. (C) The case of Binga, where the GOZ at best is not
stopping its supporters from preventing humanitarian food
relief for the vulnerable for political reasons, is
especially troubling in the context of the responsible
minister asserting that as far as donor food relief is
concerned, it's the GOZ's way or it's the highway. While we
do not want to read too much into his words, Moyo seemed to
be implying an unstated strategy of calling the international
community's bluff by demanding that they deliver food aid on
GOZ terms or be willing to shoulder the blame for the
disaster that would follow. The implication of this for USG
food aid policy in Zimbabwe is profound. It is not in our
interest to permit starvation to spread, but it is not in our
power to prevent this if food aid, and the ability to use
this to punish opposition supporters, is left in the hands of
a government that to date has shown itself obsessed with
political vindictiveness and totally indifferent to the
welfare of the population, fairness, or policy reform. To
yield to an attempted GOZ bluff might be a palliative measure
for some, but it would not offer any guarantees for all, and
in the final analysis it could never be curative absent
necessary policy reform. From where we stand, it is a bluff
we must call.
¶9. (C) Comment continued: For the above reasons, we
recommend plain speaking now about the reasons for Zimbabwe's
food crisis, and the need for impartial distribution of all
food assistance and complementary policy reforms. Unlike its
neighbors, the GOZ has been unwilling to engage in a
constructive discussion with donors over how to address the
emerging crisis. Thus, it is important to maintain a
distinction between the food crisis in Zimbabwe and that in
neighboring countries. End comment.
SULLIVAN
(107 VIEWS)
