Zim 'has enough to eat'
2005-09-12 08:55
Special Report
Riot police in Zimbabwe have disrupted a Valentine's Day peace march, scattering women demonstrators.
A dusty road leads to the village of Wedza, where veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war eke out a meagre living on their farm cooperative, which after a promising start now brings only despair.
Johannesburg - Zimbabweans have been told they will have enough food as maize imports from South African and other countries continue, Zimbabwe's Herald Online reported on Monday.
It said this assurance came from the chairperson of the National Taskforce on Grain, Didymus Mutasa, and from Agriculture Minister Joseph Made.
Their comments come after a statement last week by the secretary for agriculture, Simon Pazvakavambwa, that the country was left with three weeks of food.
Mutasa said the country was importing about 15 000 tons a week from South Africa.
This, in addition to some grain coming from other countries and the local market, was enough to feed the nation at any given time.
"What the secretary said is completely untrue and unfounded. I wonder what was his motivation to say such words, which are completely baseless," said Mutasa.
"We are importing an average of 15 000 tons of maize from South Africa and if we add what we get from the local market and other countries, then we will be having enough food to feed the nation at any time."
- SAPA