NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6549

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: ZIMBABWE: Pace of Drought Devastation Accelerates
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/** headlines: 263.0 **/
** Topic: Zimbabwe: Devastation Accelerates **
** Written 11:47 am  Sep 14, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:headlines **
From: News Desk <newsdesk>
Subject: Zimbabwe: Devastation Accelerates

/* Written  5:52 pm  Aug 18, 1992 by web:aiacan in cdp:safrica.drough */
/* ---------- "Zimbabwe: Devastation Accelerates" ---------- */
S920817.ZIM

ZIMBABWE: Pace of Drought Devastation Accelerates

Harare, August 18, 1992 (AIA/Richard Saunders) -- Despite
government assurances, the drought crisis is rapidly
deteriorating.

Amid reports of spreading malnutrition in the southern provinces,
the state has mobilised resources to safeguard the most vulnerable
members of society: pre-school children. Meanwhile, the number of
adults requiring urgent assistance is growing beyond the state's
administrative capacity.

In July, 4.5 million people -- close to half the total population
-- were registered for drought relief. This represents an alarming
increase since March, when only two million were listed on relief
rolls.

These mounting numbers stand behind the government's skyrocketing
drought-related expenditures. They are accompanied by the first
public acknowledgements from the health and child welfare ministry
that many Zimbabweans have already succumbed to starvation.

In the last three months the government's monthly food procurement
bill has more than doubled to ZIM$48 million (US$9.6million).
Officials say probably less than half of those registered for
hand-outs have received food so far because of shortages,
transport bottlenecks and poor administration.

Minister of Information David Karimanzira says the full impact of
the drought on food supply will only be felt in September and
October. By then, experts say, it is likely five million will
require food assistance -- about two million more than the
government can handle.

This year Zimbabwe suffered a cereal shortfall currently estimated
at 2.08 million tonnes. About 500,000 tonnes of grain have been
imported to date. Other costly food imports this year will include
wheat and sugar.

Minister of Finance Bernard Chidzero introduced a special 10
percent drought levy in his July 30 budget and earmarked ZIM$2
billion (US$400 million) for drought-relief spending in 1992-93.
Chidzero is counting on massive assistance from non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), other local community groups and overseas
donors, and is hoping the rains will return this November.

But for many it is already too late.

Despite President Mugabe's declarations that no-one will starve to
death, the Ministry of Health announced in July that more than 40
children under the age of five had died of drought-related
malnutrition by May.

No mention was made of deaths among adults and the elderly, though
Ministry of Health statistics unearthed by AIA during a visit to
hard-hit Masvingo reported 41 deaths due to malnutrition in that
province alone by early April. Since then, the flood of new
applicants for drought relief -- along with the steady pace of
cattle deaths (20,000 in June, bringing the total to 140,000) --
indicate malnutrition has cut even deeper.

Young children have suffered particularly. In July, Health
Minister Timothy Stamps revealed that 56 of Zimbabwe's 57
districts had unacceptably high rates (above 15 percent) of child
malnutrition. Stamps said at least 30 percent of Zimbabwe's three
million young children urgently needed supplementary
protein-enriched food.

At the beginning of July the government launched a supplementary
feeding programme targeting 750,000 children under five years old,
at a cost of ZIM$150 million (US$30 million). The initiative will
rely heavily on the participation of NGOs and community groups,
which in many areas will provide the money, food and delivery
mechanisms under the supervisory co-ordination of the government.

Also in July, the Ministry of Education and Culture announced a
separate scheme to provide daily protein drinks of milk and mahewu
(a corn-meal based drink) to nearly two million schoolchildren for
the next nine months.

Recent media reports have noted the migration of rural residents
to mining compounds, towns and larger urban areas in search of
food. It is likely this movement of families has thrown thousands
of children out of school, and cut off their access to
supplementary food supplies. Urban primary schools -- unlike their
rural counterparts -- levy fees which most cash-strapped migrant
households cannot manage.

Together with the growing ranks of the urban working poor and
unemployed, the swelling number of drought refugees from the rural
areas means drought-induced hunger now threatens sections of all
Zimbabwean communities.

Police in southern Zimbabwe, meanwhile, are reporting an upsurge
in what they take to be drought-related crime. In several recent
robberies thieves appeared to be interested in food alone.

President Mugabe and other ZANU leaders have promised to
accelerate the pace of commercial farmland acquisition and
redistribution.

"Our cattle are dying when we have areas of land full of grass ...
Zimbabwe is ours but the land is not ours. That has to stop,"
Mugabe told a cheering audience of peasants in the ravaged
southern district of Filabusi in late July.

ENDS (740 WORDS)
** End of text from cdp:headlines **