Zimbabweans are starving in the time of Covid

At least 95% of the population of Zimbabwe are informal traders and when the lockdown began all those people were left with no source of income. The government spoke about setting aside money to help people out during the lockdown but very few people if any have benefitted from this money.

Even during this time when the whole country is faced with the pandemic the government is still choosing to distribute food on a partisan basis. The majority of Zimbabweans are faced with starvation and ordinary citizens like Samantha Murokozi have been moved by the plight of the people and started a food kitchen to cater for the children and people of Chitungwiza who can not afford to feed themselves. In Epworth Carol and Sandra who are two single mothers have also started a food kitchen to feed especially the children in Epworth. These are examples of people who themselves don't have much but have been so moved by the suffering of others that they felt that they had to do something. What a great irony that the poor in our society are the ones who are being moved to help their fellow citizens and yet government ministers who drive the most luxurious cars and live in the most opulent houses are not moved and as such are not doing anything to alleviate the hunger that most Zimbabweans are facing.

Who's responsibility is it to make sure that every citizen is at least fed during a pandemic and a government mandated lockdown? According to the Constitution of Zimbabwe Section 77 (b) Every person has the right to sufficient food; and the State must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right. The government has however been very selective in providing food to those in need whilst completely ignoring the fact that at least 60% of the population were facing starvation before the mandated lockdown. As most people were informally employed the advent of the lockdown meant that those people could no longer fend for themselves and yet the government has not done anything to help those people unless they are part of the government's ZANU PF ruling party. This move by the government has been cruel and inhumane and shows their complete disregard for the masses at large. If the leadership cannot step up and meet the needs of the people that they govern then in my opinion they don't deserve to be a leader at all...