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(NEWZIMBABWE) Tsvangirai: We must respond to crisis with utmost urgency

COMMENT - Time to lift sanctions, right Morgan? Or aren't you in charge of those?

Tsvangirai: We must respond to crisis with utmost urgency

The following is a statement by Zimbabwe's Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai on the food and humanitarian situation in the country issued on September 27, 2008:

Posted to the web: 28/09/2008 23:02:42
FELLOW Zimbabweans, I have spent the past few weeks doing a consultative tour of the various sectors of our economy.

I am here today to draw your attention to the challenging situation in our country. The social, political and economic challenges facing our country are unprecedented.

POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

The historic signing of the global political agreement on the 15th of September created an atmosphere of hope in our country. The uncertainty pertaining to the finalisation and conclusion of the negotiations is causing unnecessary anxiety and agony.

I, however, note with concern reported cases of intolerance and violence in some parts of our country. The culture of political victimisation and polarisation on account of differences in opinion should be a thing of the past. The challenges we now face require the collective sense of unity and purpose and a desire in every Zimbabwean of ensuring that we put the nation first.

THE ECONOMY

Companies have laid off most of their workers and are now open only to aintain their equipment. Our shops and supermarkets are mere shelves, with goods only available on the parallel market at exorbitant prices.

The pricing system in our country has collapsed with price distortions and speculation becoming the order of the day. I toured the banks in the city centre on Friday afternoon and am sad to report that our workers are spending most of their productive time in cash queues to collect a cash value which is not sufficient to cover their transport back home.

I spoke to ordinary men and women, our uniformed forces in queues, our teachers, factory workers, they told sad stories, an old lady spoke of spending two nights in the queue waiting to withdraw a paltry one thousand dollars.

The recent measures by the central bank to increase withdrawal limit to twenty thousand dollars are inadequate.

Our industry has collapsed with mining operating below 5% capacity.

FOOD SECURITY

I had an opportunity to meet with food security experts, the food manufacturing companies, and the farmers, in order to ascertain the quantities of food available for this season, the capacity of food manufacturing industry to deliver the required quantities of various food products required, the state of preparedness of our farmers for the agricultural season upon us, as well as the various support
services required for this agricultural season.

I am sad to report that my preliminary findings in this exercise show a state of emergency in the area of food security with disastrous consequences if we take too long to attend to the crisis.

I found that the deepening food insecurity will require significant food assistance
for an estimated 5.1 million people in Zimbabwe. The food agencies are currently feeding approximately 4 million people and will need to feed 5.5 million people in January of 2009. Fifty out of fifty seven wards will need food and humanitarian aid by January of 2009.

We need minimum stocks of 800 000 tonnes in order to see us through to April of 2009. I am not yet aware of the quantities stocked by the GMB except to say their ability to respond to the national food deficit has been eroded by the prolonged macro-economic collapse.

The food and manufacturing industry is working at 10% of its capacity and therefore will not be able to deliver sufficient supplies to the market in order to contribute to the national food requirement.

The shortage of basic agricultural inputs will further reduce output for the season ending April 2009. Opportunities presented by the availability of raw materials outside our borders have been destroyed by the shortage of foreign currency.

The agricultural season of April 2008 to April 2009 is threatened by similar foreign currency constraints, with our country needing approximately 625 000tonnes of fertlizer yet only 25 000 tonnes are available.

The logical constraints and challenges require timeous intervention and response from the inclusive government. This agricultural season needs to contribute a minimum of 425 000 tonnes of maize and 175 000 tonnes of wheat to guarantee basic food supply.

URGENT NEED TO FORM GOVERNMENT

We need to respond to this crisis with the utmost urgency. It is therefore imperative that a government be formed in the next few days and begins to implement plans to ensure that our people have food and do not die of starvation.

The inclusive government will have to equivocally make an urgent request for food assistance in order to see us through this period further to that we will have to look at ways of ensuring that we salvage what we can in the current agricultural season and make sure there is sufficient preparation for the upcoming
agricultural season.

Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SANCTIONS

posted by MrK @ 3:55 PM