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Vincent Gono, Sunday News Reporter
PUBLIC Service, Labour and Social Welfare Deputy Minister Cde Lovemore Matuke has called on Zimbabwean political parties to stop their obsession with politics saying dragging political games on problems wrought by Cyclone Idai was retrogressive and insensitive.
In an interview, Cde Matuke said it was not true that food and aid donated to Cyclone Idai victims was being distributed along party lines saying those saying so were being mischiveous. He expressed his gratitude to the nation for its unwavering spirit of unity in helping the affected people. Cde Matuke said so far there were adequate supplies of food to the affected people although more was needed going into the future.
He said the damage caused by Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge as well as parts of Masvingo was supposed to be everyone’s problem and not something to politic over as what other political parties were doing.
“Reports that Zanu-PF is using donated goods to campaign are disturbing. They are meant to portray the party as insensitive to the plight of the victims of the devastating cyclone and drag the name of the party into disrepute. There is nothing like that. It’s just part of the people’s political obsession fuelled by those that see in Zanu-PF as a major stumbling block to their inflated political dreams. They then massage their unrealistic egos by peddling lies,” said Cde Matuke.
He said the party mobilised its vehicles to go to Chimanimani and assist in the distribution of food because the roads were damaged and very difficult to manoeuvre.
“We mobilised almost all our party vehicles and they were the ones doing the distribution of food and other items donated by people. We even met some MDC vehicles and it was good that we were meeting for a good national cause. But it is disturbing to hear reports that Zanu-PF is using the aid to further its political agenda,” he said.
He added that the victims were still getting supplies of food and clothing items from well-wishers and across the region adding that the process of quantifying the damage in monetary terms was ongoing. Recent figures released by the Government showed that 344 people lost their lives although the number is expected to continue rising as more bodies are being discovered — some as far as Mozambique. A total of 158 bodied have so far been positively identified in Mozambique, 169 died in Chimanimani, six in Chipinge, one in Buhera, one in Makoni , four in Mutare Rural and five in Masvingo.
Online Reporter