Cash squeeze hits food aid distribution

Non-Governmental Organisations were barred for three months from carrying out any humanitarian work in the run-up to the Presidential elections run-off on June 27 after President Robert Mugabe accused them of being used to channel funds to opposition parties and also of using food as a political weapon to campaign against his government especially in rural areas, then considered to be his stronghold.
One of the leading distributors of food relief, World Vision, however, said although they were affected by the cash shortage “just like everyone else” this had not affected their operations.
A senior official in one of the civil society organisations told The Financial Gazette that there was plenty of food around but distribution was being hampered by lack of cash to enable relief organisations to pay casual staff they hired to help distribute food in the rural areas.
The official said it was disheartening to note that the government was dishing out loads of cash when distributing food under the central bank’s basic commodities facility or when the First Lady Grace Mugabe distributed food handouts, yet non-governmental organisations were being restricted from accessing cash.
It is estimated that more than 1 million tonnes of maize will be needed to feed up to 5.1 million people before the end of the current rainy season but the government had imported less than 200 000 tonnes by the end of August.
The official said the government had turned down representations made by non-governmental organisations to get cash to pay their labourers. He said this was baffling because the NGOs were giving out handouts and all they needed was labour to speed up the process.