…partisan, porous distribution criteria exposed
By Beverly Bizeki/ Precila Takabvirakare
A powerful syndicate allegedly comprising of police officers, Member of Parliament (MP), councilor, social welfare and agritex workers is at the centre of a storm for stealing maize grain that was meant for distribution to vulnerable families in Gutu East Constuency recently.
Lucky has since ran out of six members of the syndicate who had since been arrested and remanded in custody to August 01, 2023, for stealing about 170 bags of maize which were supposed to have been distributed in Ward 15, Gutu East Constituency.
The syndicate, which is responsible for safekeeping and distribution of the food aid to the vulnerable communities that are grappling with the El Nino-induced drought, took advantage of their privileged positions to steal, and in the process exposed the partisan, porous and week system being used to distribute the relief aid.
Admond Mavhangira (45), Allen Munhamo (32) (both police officers stationed at Bhasera Police camp), Calvin Munhamo (38) an Agritex Officer based at Bhasera, Daniel Charungwa (45), Costa Fire (29) a businessman who resides at Bhasera business center and Shepherd Masundidzire, a truck driver are currently in custody and will appear in court on August 01 for continuation of trial.
Others being implicated include Gutu East MP Benjamin Ganyiwa, Ward 36 Councilor Annamaria Zivai and village head Kenias Mushoriwa. The trio, however, vehemently denied the allegations.
Ganyiwa said he was aware of the alleged theft of food aid, but he was not directly involved in the food aid distribution.
“I have heard the allegations about food aid theft in my constituency and the names of people involved. Of course my name has been mentioned among the culprits but I am not directly involved in the distribution of food aid. I work with a lot of people especially those from my constituency and chances are high that some takes advantage of that proximity for namedropping. I don’t know anything and I don’t know why people want to drag me in issues that I know nothing about,” said Ganyiwa.
Contacted for comment, Zivai said she was not part of the syndicate but confirmed that there were villages that received the maize though they were not on the beneficiaries’ list.
“My hands are clean; there was only a challenge where some villagers who received the maize at Mushwayi were not on the list from the District Development Coordinator (DDC)’s office,” Zivai said.
“I was then left with 73 bags, 13 of which I gave to my people in Mushwayi and handed them over to Calvin Munhamo. I trusted him since he works with the MP when they are doing aid distribution in various centres. I further confirmed with the leadership if they had received the maize and they acknowledged receipt,” she added.
Village head Kenias Mushoriwa, who is also implicated distanced himself from the syndicate saying the maize he is selling at his shop is his own.
“I was already selling maize at my shop before the maize for the food relief came. I work as a guard at the clinic where the maize was kept. Those who asked me to keep the maize called their party members to guard the trucks overnight and distributed the maize in the morning,” said Mushoriwa.
“After distribution, nothing was left behind and they told me to collect the spilled grains as appreciation, so I was shocked by the news on social media that I had stolen 10 tonnes of maize because there is nowhere I can keep all that maize in my house,” Mushoriwa added.
Gutu East villagers who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization said it was this exact way of doing things that creates loopholes for theft of food aid meant for them, saying a lot more could be happening behind the scene.
“Ruling party leadership use these loopholes to steal food aid, because the distribution criteria is to their own discretion, so how do you think it is going to be fair? Even government workers can take advantage of the partisan approach to food distribution, like we have seen in this case,” the source said.
According to sources who spoke to this publication, about 30 tonnes of maize were stolen in the constituency as the food aid was only given to a few individuals and the rest was seized by the suspects and others who are yet to be arrested.
“On June 13, when there was another distribution, most people did not get any maize but there were some trucks that returned with some bags and offloaded them at a house near Mutambwi School.
“The distribution was done last month but no one signed for what they received. They are only coming back now to have people sign for the maize and in the process forcing others who did not receive anything to sign as well as forging names and signatures,” revealed the sources.
For the six that appeared before Gutu magistrate, the State represented by prosecutor Rachel Murape alleges that on June 13 2024, at around 1600hours and at Alheit Business Center, Bhasera, Mavhangira, Hamandishe and Masundidzire were ordered by Apollonia Masakure who is a Social Development Officer to escort a truck containing 370 bags (50kgs each) of maize grain to ZRP Bhasera in the company of Shalom Marufu and Ndinatse Madzadzure of Mufudze village under Chief Chimombe, Gutu.
Madzadzure and Marufu then left the truck in the hands of Mavhangira, Hamandishe and Masundidzire. On the same date at around 2130 hours the three hatched a plan to steal the maize grain. It is alleged that Mavhangira, Hamandishe and Masundidzire then went to the police station and drove the truck to Chimombe clinic. On the way they met with Munhamo, Charungwa and Fire. The six then took 170 bags and offloaded them at Chimombe Clinic, leaving only 200 bags in the truck.
The 200 bags were then handed over to Oswell Rwezuro and Pedzisai Future who are the ward 17 secretary and chairperson respectively.
On June 18 during the distribution of the maize, Patience Mundondo, a Social Development Officer observed that the truck had offloaded 200 bags of maize which resulted in a shortage of maize to the villagers. She then notified Masakure who then carried out an audit on June 21 and discovered that the truck had a shortage of 170 bags.
