First Lady’s food parcels vanish

via First Lady’s food parcels vanish | The Zimbabwean by Tamuka Maregere

Food parcels donated by First Lady Grace Mugabe in the run-up to the July 31 elections have still not reached beneficiaries, more than a month after they were delivered to party officials in the city.

Grace donated 50 tonnes of maize, 20 tonnes of sugar beans and 1, 200 cases of cooking oil to Copota Mission School for the Hearing and Visually Impaired, Mucheke Old People’s Home, Alfer Cottages, an orphanage and several other organisations.

The food, according to Lovemore Matuke, the Zanu (PF) Masvingo Provincial Chairperson, was delivered a few days after the July 26 rally. He said although the food arrived three days after the pledge made at a campaign rally for Robert Mugabe’s presidency in the run up to the elections, the quantities were insufficient to cover all the institutions in the province.

Opposition political parties challenged the timing of the donations, charging that they amounted to vote-buying ahead of a crucial plebiscite, an assertion Zanu (PF) dismissed. The party argued that Grace has a right to donate to charities in her official capacity at any time.

 

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