Zimbabwe: MDC attacks Mnangagwa for insensitive response to rising food prices

Zimbabwe’s MDC opposition party has attacked President Emmerson Mnangagwa for statements he made on Friday about the country’s worsening food shortages.

Speaking to hundreds in Harare who were complaining of high prices for meat, President Mnangagwa told the crowd they should just eat vegetables instead.

MDC Deputy Spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka hit out at the comments, asserting that the president was completely out of line in dictating what families should eat.

“When you have a leader who starts to impose vegetables, a leader and a president who gets into other people's kitchens determining family diets, it shows you just how much we have sunk as a country”, he said.

MDC Vice President Tendai Biti described Mnangagwa as an illegitimate leader and likened his comments to those of Marie Antoinette’s famous ‘let them eat cake’ faux pas. 

"At the height of the French Revolution, France's Marie Antoinette, in response to bread protests by citizens retorted 'let them eat cake'. In Kuwadzana yesterday (Friday), Zimbabwe's illegitimate leader in response to cries of high cost of meat retorted, 'let them eat vegetables," said Biti. 

The party’s secretary general Chalton Hwende also joined the fray, adding that Mnagagwa’s comments were an “insult” and further accused him of having rigged the election which won him the presidency. 

Zimbabwe is currently in the midst of a severe national food shortage, thought to affect 5.5 million people. The United Nations has indicated that the situation may worsen as aid is set to run out by February. 

Photo credit: Zimbabwe Situation