GOVERNMENT has blamed poor road network for failure to feed hungry villagers in Nkayi, Matabeleland North province, amid reports that the majority of people in the district were starving.
Humanitarian aid agencies estimate that 7,7 million people in rural and urban areas are at risk of severe hunger, owing to climate change-induced drought and COVID-19 economic shocks.
A collapsing economy characterised by ever-rising prices of basic commodities has exacerbated the situation, pushing many into deep ends of poverty.
Government claimed it was providing food aid to ease the crisis, but reports show that hunger is affecting many in Nkayi.
In an interview yesterday, Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs minister Richard Moyo blamed Nkayi’s poor road network for failure to transport food aid from Bulawayo to the villagers.
“That is why I was with the Transport minister last week touring unfinished road projects in the province. We have some truckers who are refusing to transport the grain, citing bad roads in Nkayi,” Moyo said.
When Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza on Friday toured the Bulawayo-Nkayi and Bulawayo-Tsholotsho road rehabilitation projects, he said the completion of the roadworks remained a major priority.
Moyo added: “Of course, we have some truckers that agree, but they are very few. What we have said now is let us have the Nkayi Road re-graded in the interim to allow truckers to transport the grain to the villagers there so that no one starves.”
Former Nkayi South legislator Abednico Bhebhe described the hunger situation in the district as dire, blaming the government for abdicating its responsibility to ensure the right to food is guaranteed.
