FOOD Aid . . . government has banned Care International from giving further aid to needy communities

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe’s government has banned an international aid group from feeding hungry villagers as Britain and Australia – regular food donors to Zimbabwe – protested his presence at a global food summit starting on Tuesday in Rome.

Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche on Monday told ZimOnline that the government had banned Care International from giving further assistance to needy communities in Masvingo province while the Harare administration probes the humanitarian organisation for allegedly using aid to campaign for the opposition.

Campaigning is in full swing for a second round presidential election that could see opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai end Mugabe’s 28-year rule after he defeated the veteran leader in the first round vote in March but failed to secure the margin required to takeover the presidency.

"The government is launching an investigation into Care International. In the meantime, that organisation cannot continue with its programmes,” said Goche, one of the hawks in Mugabe’s government.

He added: “Several other non-governmental organisations involved in food distribution in Manicaland province will also be asked to cease operations while we investigate them . . . there is a crucial runoff coming and our information indicates that NGOs are involved in plans to undermine our candidate."

ZimOnline was yesterday unable to get immediate comment on the matter from Care International. But a Care official, who did not want to be named because he did not have permission from the group to speak to the media, said Goche issued the ban last Friday.

The official said: "Care International has never supported the opposition, neither have we supported the ruling party through any of our programmes. What could have angered the government is our insistence on assisting people across the political divide . . . our assistance is non-political and non-religious."

Mugabe’s government has in recent weeks stepped up pressure against NGOs that it accuses of using aid distribution as a pretext to campaign for Tsvangirai.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told national television last week that Care International and another aid group, Plan International, were to blame for Mugabe’s poor showing in the March polls in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces.

But the National Association of NGOs on Monday rejected charges that relief agencies were campaigning for the opposition ahead of the June 27 run-off presidential election.

Fambai Ngirande, spokesman for the NGO association, instead accused the government of "moving to stop assistance reaching even those who had been receiving aid before the elections.”

Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, has grappled with severe food shortages since 2000 when Mugabe launched his haphazard fast-track land reform exercise that displaced established white commercial farmers and replaced them with either incompetent or inadequately funded black farmers.

A shortage of seed and fertilizer hampered planting while erratic rains for most of the 2007/2008 farming season has meant yields will be much lower again this year and international relief agencies will have to step in with food aid.

An economic recession marked by the world’s highest inflation rate of more than 165 000 percent has exacerbated the food crisis, with the government out of cash to import food, while many families that would normally be able to buy their own food supplies are unable to do so because of an increasingly worthless currency. 

Political violence, which broke out immediately it became clear that Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party had defeated Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF in the March polls, has added a new crisis as thousands of opposition supporters have been displaced by the violence and require food and other humanitarian assistance.

The MDC says at least 50 of its members have died while more than 25 000 have been displaced in the violence that it says is sponsored by Mugabe’s government in a bid to intimidate Zimbabweans to back him in the June 27 run-off election.

Ngirande accused ZANU PF militias of blocking aid to victims of political violence.

Meanwhile, the British and Australian governments criticised Mugabe’s presence at a United Nations summit on food security in Rome, describing it as “unfortunate” and “obscene” that the Zimbabwean leader could be part of such a gathering when he was responsible for the collapse of his won country’s agriculture.

A spokesman for British Premier Gordon Brown told journalists: "We think it's particularly unfortunate that he's decided to attend this meeting given what he's done in relation to contributing to the difficulties with food supplies."

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith was more blunt against Mugabe, telling the media, “Robert Mugabe turning up to a conference dealing with food security or food issues is, in my view, frankly obscene."

Mugabe, who denies ruining Zimbabwe’s agriculture and blames food shortages on poor weather and Western sanctions, is banned from travelling to the European Union under sanctions imposed after he allegedly rigged his re-election in 2002.

The United States, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia have imposed a similar travel ban on Mugabe and top officials of his government. But the Zimbabwean leader can visit the Western countries on UN business.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation organised the Rome summit. – ZimOnline.