ZIMBABWE: Feeding scheme resumed

JOHANNESBURG, 29 July 2002 (IRIN) - A feeding scheme run by the the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) in Zimbabwe's Binga district has resumed after war veterans forced its closure last month. However, the local government ordered that the scheme would no longer be run by the CCJP, but directly by three Catholic churches in the region, in the far west of the country. Last month, the offices of the programme, which fed 40,000 children in the Binga district, was surrounded by people calling themselves war veterans and closed by police. The project, funded by Britain's Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (CAFOD), was accused of supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). This was a twist on current concerns that the ruling ZANU-PF was diverting government-purchased food to its supporters. Father Tom McQuillen told IRIN that feeding had resumed last Monday but the local governor had ordered that food be taken away from CCJP and distributed directly by the three Catholic churches in Binga, Kamatiwi and Kariyangwe. The people employed to oversee the CCJP feeding programme could no longer work on the scheme as they were seen as opposition supporters, he said. The CCJP was also ordered to suspend its other activities. These included drilling boreholes, rights education and campaigns on women's rights, inheritance laws and ensuring certain languages are included in the school curriculum. "I see no merit in the accusations," he said. "The only contact our workers had with beneficiaries was with deliveries. The headmasters received the food and it was given to the school development committee. Besides, it's pointless to go around campaigning to five-year-olds." The resumption will see food going to children in 34 primary schools and 183 pre-schools. Save the Children Fund (SCF), which also operates in Binga, said it had not experienced any problems in the area. SCF deputy director Patricia Mbetu, which distributes food funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID) said: "Where we are working we have our own targeting [of those in need] and it's quite transparent. "We haven't had any tampering with our registers at all ... We are able to negotiate with the local authorities and we're distributing without political interference." The World Food Programme (WFP), which launched a massive appeal for the country, has already said it would not tolerate the politicisation of food aid it was bringing into the country. WFP has warned that up to six million Zimbabweans face food shortages due to a drought and a drop in production brought on by the government's fast-track land reform.