Online Reporter
Debra Matabvu-Senior Reporter
PROVINCES and districts across the country have begun to receive contingency grain, following President Mnangagwa’s directive to release and distribute standby food stocks in response to severe rainfall-induced disasters that have hit parts of the country recently.
As a precautionary measure, the President has directed that each of Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces receive 50 tonnes of grain as standby food stocks to cushion communities should the situation deteriorate.
Countries in the Southern African region have over the past few weeks received heavy rains resulting in widespread flooding that has displaced communities, destroyed infrastructure and cut off access to basic services.
As a result, President Mnangagwa last week temporarily broke his annual leave to lead high-level coordination of Zimbabwe’s domestic and sub-regional disaster response to the severe rainfall-induced disasters that hit parts of the country, Mozambique and Malawi.
Parts of the country that have been affected by the recent floods include Mashonaland Central, Matabeleland South, and some parts of Masvingo.
The President activated local and regional emergency food assistance as well as deploying air rescue helicopters to Mozambique.
Locally, affected communities in areas such as Chipinge have started accessing grain after heavy rains and strong winds battered Manicaland, crippling key public infrastructure and destroying homes.
In an interview, Civil Protection Unit (CPU) director, Mr Nathan Nkomo, said all Grain Marketing Board depots across the country have been notified about the President’s directive and districts in need have started accessing the grain.
“After the pronouncement by His Excellency President Mnangagwa, we wrote to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) about the directive and that grain should be set aside in various depots across the country,” Mr Nkomo said.
So in a nutshell, District Administrators can now access that grain on demand or need basis, and they can use that letter to access the grain when they are in need of it.
“All GMB depots across the country are now ready to disburse the grain and the DAs will access the grain at depots near them.
“So far we have received a call from Chipinge and they informed us that they are going to access grain which will be distributed to Mutema-Musikavanhu constituency.”
President Mnangagwa also placed the CPU on full alert, supported by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, health services and other Government departments involved in disaster preparedness and response.
In addition, the President last week dispatched consignments of humanitarian aid — including maize, tents and blankets — to Mozambique and Malawi.
Zimbabwe also deployed two fully equipped air rescue helicopters to Mozambique to assist with emergency evacuations of marooned families and individuals trapped by rising floodwaters.
The assistance is being co-ordinated through ZimAid, a Government-established humanitarian assistance mechanism created to mobilise and channel Zimbabwe’s support to countries beyond its borders during emergencies.
ZimAid operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, working closely with the CPU and private sector partners.
