The Sunday Mail
Dr Obert Moses Mpofu
PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA recently declared a State of Disaster due to the El Niño-induced drought.
In recent years, our country, under the Second Republic, has made huge strides towards attaining food security.
If it were not for the unfortunate weather phenomenon, I am pretty sure this year we were going to have another bumper harvest.
However, the ZANU PF-led Government, under His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, has put in place measures to mitigate and alleviate the situation.
The El Niño-induced drought presents an interesting scenario.
Whenever such situations arise, some people might present themselves as saviours and offer a helping hand in the form of the so-called “aid”.
Often, this aid is used to disguise a nefarious agenda.
Do not get me wrong, there are indeed those who are friendly and will genuinely lend a hand without any ulterior motives.
And then there are the usual suspects, whose proposed aid will be attached to certain conditions.
They usually deploy their usual antics to try and smuggle in a political agenda.
It is no secret that, more often than not, aid has been used to fulfil nefarious agendas and, in the most extreme of cases, to even facilitate regime change.
A number of non-governmental organisations operating in Zimbabwe are proxies of our detractors.
They will smuggle in a political agenda to try and sway our people.
They will unashamedly try to use “food aid” to have our people betray their cause.
Such has always been their modus operandi.
However, chances of them succeeding are slim. Our people are not easy to sway.
But our detractors will always try.
In all their efforts, they will find a people holding steady and unwilling to sell out for their so-called aid.
During the 2023 harmonised elections, some elements tried to campaign for the opposition under the guise of providing relief to disadvantaged communities. The whole idea of providing developmental aid has been politicised.
This is why the Government of Zimbabwe has come up with the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill to guard against malicious activities and regulate the operations of such organisations.
This Bill has been opposed by some quarters because it exposes the nature and intentions of some of these organisations that have been furthering the illegal regime-change agenda.
Be that as it may, and with the effects of the El Niño-induced drought being apparent, the ZANU PF-led Government under President Mnangagwa is pulling all the stops to ensure that no one is left behind.
We will work in conjunction with our partners to provide relief to our people.
Every effort will be made to ensure that our people are cushioned from drought.
I repeat: No one will go hungry under the ZANU PF Government’s watch.
The Second Republic has invested a lot of effort to revamp the country’s agriculture sector to achieve both household and national food security. Through these efforts, remarkable results have been achieved.
Our systems are working as they should and even though we will face some difficulties as a result of the current drought, we will keep forging ahead.
We will prove our resilience as a people.
Our resolve will indeed be tested but, as always, we will prevail.
Dr Obert Moses Mpofu is an academic and the Secretary-General of ZANU PF. He writes in his own capacity.
