MDC politician sues Zanu PF for food aid favouritism

LOSING MDC parliamentary candidate for Silobela, Fanuel Sibindi has warned the opposition party’s supporters risk dying of hunger through food discrimination adding that he was taking Zanu PF to court to try and force a halt in the condemned practice.

This comes as Zanu PF elements, among them traditional leaders, and some partisan members of the country’s civil service have been accused of denying food aid to known opposition supporters as punishment.

But Sibindi felt it was time to take the bull by the horns through some legal action.

“I have decided to take Zanu PF to court over the issue of partisan food distribution,” he told NewZimbabwe.com this past week.

“We cannot continue to have the ruling party depriving a basic human right which is the right to food because someone has chosen to subscribe to a different political ideology.”

The MDC politician warned if the situation persists, members of his party could succumb to hunger which has been worsened by severe drought which has hit the country and the region.

“For an agro-based economy, this is a huge blow for most families who are already groaning under the burden and strain of last year’s drought which resulted in famine,” Sibindi said.

He added, “Zanu PF must not use food aid as a political tool to persecute perceived political foes. The situation has left us with no choice but to approach the courts.”

He also accused Silobela MP, Mthokozisi Manoki Mpofu of being among some Zanu PF politicians who were responsible for partisan food distribution.

Mpofu however dismissed the claims, referring to a case in which some MDC supporters stayed away from a food distribution venue in which villagers were invited.

“In Ward 20, the poor attendance was significantly telling that it is temporarily an MDC territory who fooled themselves that the rice distribution programme is for Zanu PF, yet it is for everyone, hence they could not attend.

“This confirms our previous concerns that social welfare programme was promoting MDC in this ward because had it not been social welfare, there was going to be a multitude thronging this venue,” said Manoki.

This article originally appeared on New Zimbabwe; photo credit: Kwekwe Net