UK, EU and Denmark fund Mugabe

UK, EU and Denmark fund Mugabe

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By Staff Reporter

THE Zimbabwe government, facing a severe food deficit crisis later in the year, has taken over the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) in a clandestine move which will see the ruling party benefit from money and aid coming from donors, New Zimbabwe.com can reveal.

As a result, the government has recommended the employment of government workers and ruling party
supporters in order to control operations at the ZRCS.

Denmark is the largest ZRCS donor, followed by the European Union and the United Kingdom through the Department for International Development, (DFID).

The aim, according to disgruntled senior officials at Red Cross, is to divert money and food aid -- most of it targeted towards child-headed families, mainly orphaned by HIV and Aids, and vulnerable groups like the elderly and disabled -- into the hands of Zanu PF.

The ZRCS’s chief executive, Emma Kundishora, was elevated a few years ago after having been ‘recommended’ by the government through the ministry
of health to keep an eye on operations at the Red Cross.

Senior Zanu PF officials were reportedly behind the removal of former chairman, Dr Jimmy Gazi and his replacement by Mashonaland Central Zanu PF official,
Edmore Shamhu.

The late Dr Swithun Mombeshora, who was a top Zanu PF official and government minister, was at one time chairman of the ZRCS.

Zanu PF senator for Masvingo, Dzikamai Mavhaire, is a former board member.

Last month Sam Mavurutsa, a soldier, was recommended from the Air Force of Zimbabwe to head the organisation’s training centre in Westwood, Harare,
which co-ordinates the training of volunteers and food distribution.

Another government official, Netsai Chizema, has been appointed as the human resources manager and her mandate is to "weed out" individuals thought to be intent on disrupting government intentions.

The new human resources manager’s first assignment was to fire the Manicaland programme officer, Golden Mukwecheni.

His crime? He is a brother to former opposition Movement for Democratic Change Member of Parliament for Nyanga, Sidney Mukwecheni.

The Air Force of Zimbabwe officer was used to replace the head of training, only identified as Khumalo.

Khumalo has been banished to Gwanda to head a training centre which is yet to be built.

“Another senior official, Sikhulile Mukwecheni has been separated from her Harare-based family with a transfer to Matabeleland South in a move which is designed to force her to resign,” a senior official told New Zimbabwe.com.

The official said more dismissals and "transfers" were in the pipeline to frustrate workers into resigning. Known Zanu PF supporters and government employees, especially from the security services, want "trusted" relatives to take up positions at the Red Cross, the official said.

President Robert Mugabe, in power since 1980, has been strategically positioning his adherents in key state firms in preparation for threatened national protests by his opponents.

Recently, the government ordered the army to fan out across several rural areas to ensure the government's grain silos are full. Mugabe has also appointed military commanders to top positions in civilian institutions, presumably to stave off instability anticipated over rising prices.

The decision to muscle in on the Red Cross is seen as an attempt to control any response to food shortages. In the past, officials from the Grain Marketing Board, which is headed by a retired army colonel Samuel Muvuti, have been accused by aid organisations of denying food support to opposition supporters.

A woman who identified himself as Red Cross chairman Edmore Shamhu's daughter said her father was unavailable to answer questions from New Zimbabwe.com last night.
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