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ACTING President Emmerson Mnangagwa has met various institutions in a bid to mobilise inputs to bail out about 15,000 farmers duped by Lasch Investments in a botched farming inputs scheme, a Zanu-PF official said yesterday.
In an interview, Zanu-PF’s director of administration Cde Dickson Dzora said the party was working flat out to ensure the farmers were assisted. “We’re working flat out through the leadership to ensure that we assist the farmers. Right now some of the farmers are at the party headquarters assisting us to compile data that we need.
“The Acting President is spearheading the efforts. He recently met with some institutions who are willing to assist the farmers,” said Cde Dzora.
He dismissed recent media reports that Acting President Mnangagwa snubbed the farmers, “demanding” that they should present their grievances in writing at his Munhumutapa offices. “The reports by News Day were false. That is a lie and the Acting President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa did not snub the farmers. The Acting President is the one who is making all these efforts to ensure that the farmers are assisted,” Cde Dzora said.
Zanu-PF secretary for Youth Affairs Cde Pupurai Togarepi recently said the party was looking at ways to assist the affected farmers with farming inputs this season.
“The Department of Youth Affairs, with the help of the leadership, is trying to look at how it can mobilise inputs to help the affected farmers during this farming season.
“The farmers had joined the inputs scheme anticipating to go back to the land. It’s unfortunate that the company (Lasch Investments) failed to run the scheme. This is a genuine problem and the innocent farmers should be assisted,” he said. Cde Togarepi said the party would distribute the inputs to farmers as soon as they became available.
The farmers, who are still camped at the Cold Storage Company premises in Willowvale, said they were suffering as they were living under poor conditions.
They complained that they had been staying at the premises for the past two months. The place does not have enough ablution facilities and there is no electricity.
Lasch Investments launched the input scheme in July together with the Zanu-PF Youth Affairs department where farmers paid $36 joining fee, $5 for an Agritex stamp and various amounts of money for insurance in accordance with the intended hectarage.
Management misused the money and farmers did not receive the promised inputs.
Online Reporter