Chronicle Editor
Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
BULAWAYO residents yesterday expressed relief with the new zonal distribution of subsidised mealie meal saying more of them are able to access the commodity.
The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) introduced a nationwide zonal distribution of subsidised roller meal recently following complaints that many people were unable to access as it was reportedly being channeled towards the black market.
The programme, which started in Bulawayo a fortnight ago, is aimed at averting corruption in the sale of subsidised roller meal. Some people have been sourcing it from the official market at the subsidised $70 a 10 kg bag and selling it for as much as $180 a bag on the black market.
Residents who spoke to Chronicle said they now had better access to the basic commodity.
“We are now getting mealie meal. I know that if mealie meal was delivered at the shops and it is our turn, I will get it. Before this programme was implemented mealie meal would come every week but each time the same people always bought the mealie meal and sold it to us at higher prices. Sometimes, a few bags would be sold and then we hear the product has been sold out. This is a relief,” said Mr Nhlonipho Donga of Mpopoma suburb.
Other residents said the programme brought transparency as community leaders could trace who bought maize meal from which shops and compare with the number of bags delivered by GMAZ.
“This programme is bringing transparency and we see that the mealie meal is being sold to familiar faces who stay in this suburb. Before this there would be the same faces in the queues every time and most of them would not even be staying here at Bullet,” said Percy Sibanda of Nkulumane 5 suburb.
The elderly however appealed to authorities to prioritise them in the zonal programme, as they could not bear spending long hours in queues. “We just hope that they help us by serving us old people first. We are now buying using books but we still spend a lot of time in the queues, which is not very good for us who are weary and frail. If priority can be given to us elderly citizens it would be better. There is discomfort in spending a lot of time in the queue and more discomfort in carrying the bag home as 10kg is now too heavy a weight for me,” said Gogo Maziwa Bhebhe.
Entumbane Residents Association chairperson Mr Newman Mabhiza said while it was in its early stages, the zonal distribution of maize meal had brought order and eliminated chaos in the sale of the subsidised commodity in his suburb.
“Here we know that we have sections and everyone buys from their own section, using their stamped or signed book. This is helping because we are eliminating the people who were wiping out shops by buying subsidised mealie meal for resale. They were selling it under trees and from car boots at $200 and one would buy if children were going hungry,” he said.
“At some point we were having touts controlling maize meal queues and some were corrupt and were taking bribes to allow people to jump the queue or to buy more bags than others. This is all being eliminated. We still hope to make the programme more orderly but we are already seeing that it is going somewhere,” said Mr Mabhiza. -@andile_tshuma
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