From Carte Blanche (SA), 22 February

An empty grain basket?

(Transcript of a TV broadcast)

Presenter : Zaa Nkweta

It’s a sight not easily forgotten… a lone young boy standing next to the fresh grave of his mother who had died from starvation. The footage was shot by Carte Blanche in Zimbabwe in 2002. At the time, the food queues were long, and the shelves empty. Wherever one enquired, the message was the same. A massive relief operation had earlier been launched, but despite the effort, the situation just spiralled out of control. By September 2002 the World Food Programme estimated that 6,7 million Zimbabweans were in need of food aid and 7,2 million by early 2003. Startling figures by any account. Zaa Nkweta (Carte Blanche presenter): "But while the international community was donating hundreds of millions of US dollars in food aid, a handful of Zimbabweans were pocketing a fortune. They’ve managed to turn the misery in their country into a lucrative business." They were exporting maize in the middle of a famine. Both public figures and businessmen were taking the gap.

Peter (former customs official): "Those big guys they can send other people or they can phone you on your cell phone. They’ll tell you that you are small fish… you can’t impound my goods." This man – we will call him Peter – is a former customs official who was stationed at several border posts over the past three years. His last position was at Chirundu, the busy crossing point between Zimbabwe and Zambia where he saw valuable food supplies like sugar, maize and wheat leaving Zimbabwe by the truck load. Peter: "It originates here, but most of the people they take it to Zambia and Congo." Chirundu is a major gateway to the rest of Africa and the one checkpoint where connections - especially political ones – will guarantee a smooth passage to smugglers. Peter: "At first you would be doing your job in a proper way, but unfortunately there are too much interferences, especially for example politicians. They’re the biggest smugglers at the border. There was this guy, Muderede, he was one of the biggest smugglers, if not the biggest, but he is politically connected, he is very powerful. Those guys they don’t use papers, they bulldoze in, they use their power. If you go in their way that will be the end of you."

That’s exactly what’s happened to Peter. When he wrote a report about the smuggling of staple food across the border he was promptly summoned to Harare by his boss. Peter: "When I came here he advised me to resign with immediate effect because something is going to happen to me, so I did exactly that." Peter was introduced to Carte Blanche by a high ranking officer in President Mugabe’s Central Intelligence organisation, the CIO. He can’t be identified, so we will call him ‘George’. George: "Once an intelligence officer, always one. So if I get something that is interesting I follow it up, investigate and perhaps not even use the information, but provide it when it is necessary." Apart from Peter, George also had another source supplying him with information on the corruption taking place at Chirundu. George: "She was at Chirundu when seven trucks carrying wheat had been seen at the border, and then on 22 May 2003 another four trucks were also cleared at customs as carrying cement. It turned out to be sugar and these were impounded. But again after a phone call from Harare, they were released."

George obtained these affidavits from the two customs officials, which bear witness to an endless stream of illegal exports. George: "She also confirmed that from early 2003 to the date that the affidavit was written she had seen more than 30 trucks that had gone across the border." Basic staple foods like maize and wheat are highly subsidised in Zimbabwe and the Grain Marketing Board - the GMB - has the monopoly to sell and move grain in the country. But it’s a complex web of bureaucracy. Zaa: "It’s a little difficult to understand, but if a farmer has more grain than what he needs to feed his own family, he is not allowed to sell it to his neighbour or even transport it to a hungry family member. In line with Zimbabwean law he has to sell it to the GMB who then distribute it to the country’s millers at a much lower price than the GMB paid for it... because by then it has been subsidised." The massive quantities of maize and wheat that George and Peter saw leaving Zimbabwe illegally through Chirundu were smuggled by private individuals at a time when there was barely anything to eat. George: "The trucks were parked somewhere way off the border post and once they had been cleared they will then just drive across without inspection." For months George and his team of freelance investigators followed several leads, finally pinning down the smugglers to a farm outside Banket in Mashonaland West. At the farm trucks were loaded with maize before heading for the Zambian border. And once again the same name popped up. George: "I had received reports that Cecil Muderede was illegally exporting wheat and maize to Zambia and Zaire, or now the DRC. Perhaps you might want to know that Cecil Muderede is a former CIO bodyguard."

Welcome to Shankuru Estates, a well-known landmark in the area and presented to the world as a model of success. These are members of the Commonwealth on a guided tour of the farm some time ago. The delegation included some of President Mugabe’s top men - Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge; Jonothan Moyo, Minister of Information; the then Governor of Mashonaland West, Peter Chanetsa; MP for Chinoyi, Phillip Chiyangwa and Vice President Joseph Misika who made the welcoming speech. Misika: "Internationally we want good relations as equals, but we can’t have people who think of themselves as supernatural human beings and look at us as sub-human." But what their host didn’t show them was what he and his colleagues have been taking out through the back door. Shankuru Estates is the same farm that was identified by George and his team as the headquarters of the smuggling operation. In fact, George says his investigation showed the farm owner has been in cahoots with Vice President Msika all along. George: "He then started doing things with Joseph Msika, the Vice President, who is related to his wife, and Chanetsa, who was then the Governor of Mashonaland West."

Zaa: "This is a copy of last Sunday’s Standard Newspaper in Zimbabwe. At the time the big story was the arrest of a prominent businessman on 22 charges of dodgy forex deals." But tucked away in the last two paragraphs was another name, one we’d heard before. It was the name Cecil Muderede! The article says he was arrested for illegally exporting maize and depositing the proceeds into an account in Luxembourg. While both Peter and George allege that Muderede is the central figure in the food smuggling operation, they both believe that far more influential people are involved. Peter: "The biggest smugglers, they’re Chombos, Chanetsa, Msika … did I mention Mujuru?" The people both Peter and George mentioned as being involved are Ignatius Chombo, Minister of Local Government; General Solomon Mujuru, the ex-commander of the Zimbabwe National Army; Peter Chanetsa, the former Governor of Mashonaland West; Phillip Chiyangwa, MP for Chinoyi, and the current vice President Joseph Msika… the very same man who welcomed members of the Commonwealth to Shankuru Estates.

Zaa: "But just where were they getting maize in a country where the shelves were empty and the people starving or being fed by donor food?" Gilbert: "People were coming and saying that you can sell them your maize. It’s not a problem because Christian Care and World Vision are coming to the area to give you food." Gilbert is a subsistence farmer in Mashonaland West. Despite last season’s drought, he harvested more than enough maize to feed his wife and four children for the whole year. But then he received an unexpected visit. Gilbert: "If they come in the day time, they just talk and they don’t load. Six o’clock they’ll start loading now and then they’ll move off so that the police cannot see them on the road." Gilbert says the men were Zanu PF officials who would pick up 12 tons per trip and offered more per ton than the GMB. He needed the money and, besides, it would have been foolish to refuse. Gilbert: "I will sell to have money for school fees, clothes for my child. So I’m not concerned about food because I know that Christian Care is giving me." But it isn’t that simple. The money Gilbert was paid for his maize provided for two months and he’s now having problems to keep his name on the food list. Gilbert: "We are now suffering because if Christian Care stop giving us food I would die with my family. But I was with that maize so that I can finish my year with my maize, but I sold that maize. Now if they stop the donors then we will have a problem."

But Gilbert was not the only farmer who had been approached in this way. Chrispin, is a local shopkeeper who was asked to cash cheques paid to farmers in his area for maize. Chrispin (Local shopkeeper): "They’ve been telling us that these cheques are made out to them for the grain that they sold to the farmer - that is Cecil Muderede." Carte Blanche obtained copies of three cheques and, not surprisingly, they were all issued by Shankuru Estates and signed by someone called Muderede. Chrispin: "He goes everywhere and collects. He does the weighing, bagging and sewing of the bags at his farm, and it’s been rumoured that that grain is exported outside the country." Zimbabwe was previously a major exporter of grain, but land invasions and the seizure of commercial farms have caused massive economic disruptions since 2000. Combined with a severe drought a huge shortage of grain was anticipated, resulting in the GMB asking for tenders to buy in maize. Zaa: "But the GMB didn’t accept the lowest tenders. It paid highly inflated prices for the grain that was imported from across the world." Carte Blanche obtained confidential reports on these transactions and asked an independent commodities analyst to assess them. Gabriel: "The maize was imported at prices that far exceeded the current market prices on the day, so that individuals who were awarded the contracts made conservatively 60-million US$." But the system invited further corruption. In the period between 2002 and 2003 maize was imported at an average price of US$215 per ton. Once landed, this expensive imported maize qualified for a Government subsidy and was sold for $6.40 per ton to wholesale companies who then sold on to the public. However, the GMB would often sell the maize back to some of the companies who had imported it, but at a fraction of the price originally paid.

Shortage: 500 000 to 600 000 tons, Imports: 960 000 tons. This document shows that almost double the amount of maize needed was imported by the GMB, so there should have been an excess rather than a shortfall, yet the shelves were empty. Gabriel: "During the period in review, between the local production and what the GMB imported, we had enough maize to feed the country." On top of that hundreds of thousands of tons in donor food were also pouring into Zimbabwe. We sent a letter to the Grain Marketing Board and the Zimbabwean Government requesting their comment on the findings of our investigation. They acknowledged receipt, but are yet to reply. Zaa: "So, has there ever been a real food shortage in Zimbabwe? While millions of people were without food, there was a drought and thousands of displaced people." Or was there a bigger mechanism eating away at the country’s food supply? According to this report from Human Rights Watch, it appears grain bought by the Zimbabwe government from abroad was diverted to foreign markets where ruling party politicians and favoured businessmen could make a profit of up to 220 percent. Gabriel: "The mills that have been used, the bags that have been used, the facilities that have been used have been set up and directed for exporting the maize which should have been consumed in Zimbabwe. So there’s over US$100 million dollars being made out of this whole operation. They were stealing from their own people and they were stealing from the goodwill of the international community."