Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
Hunger stricken school pupils from Bulilima District in Matabeleland South have resorted to stealing food from homesteads while some are dropping out of school. Villagers are reportedly selling their cattle for as little as $50, about a 10th of the normal price as the beasts also succumb to hunger. Chiefs and headmen from the district during a meeting on the drought situation, at the Bulilima District offices on Wednesday, said urgent food aid was needed in the district.
Headman Jetcheni of Nswazi area said old people from his area were now living in fear of youngsters who were stealing food in their homesteads. “Youngsters have become a menace as they invade homesteads of old people and they take food from them by force. Some of these children would be secondary school pupils.”
Headman Manguba said some parents were withdrawing their children from school after they had collapsed due to hunger. “A child will be taking a lot of strain if he or she has to walk more than 10 kilometres to school under a scorching sun on an empty stomach. Such a child will not concentrate in their studies,” he said.
Headman Manguba said under normal circumstances villagers would have started harvesting some of their crops but a number of fields had remained unplanted because of poor rains while some crops had wilted.
Chief Mpini said food relief programmes that were being implemented had to cater for all people in need for a change. He said existing programmes only catered for a section of the people yet everyone was struggling.
In an interview Chief Tshitshi of Mangwe District said villagers were now selling their cattle at a giveaway price as their condition had deteriorated. “They’re just selling the cattle so that they can do away with them before they die while in their possession.
“In the process they can do little with the money that they get. Some of the cattle can’t be sold anymore while some have already died because of the drought situation,” he said.
The government recently announced that it would soon start a feeding scheme for pupils in schools to curb dropouts caused by hunger. The Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Professor Paul Mavhima said his office had received a number of reports on school dropouts due to hunger, a problem he said requires immediate attention.
Prof Mavhima said provinces like Masvingo, Midlands and the Matabeleland region are the hardest hit by drought.