Mudzi – ZANU PF’s 60 Year Old Youth Leader was nearly given a bashing as farmers countrywide since Thursday went into a rage against the ruling party ZANU PF “for defrauding them of of their hard earned cash which they paid for the Goverment Inputs Loan Scheme, which the farmers are yet to receive.
There was chaos all over the country yesterday as ZANU PF officials were caught between the eyes failing to explain the causes of the ‘despicable’ chaos and as distraught farmers demanded answers.
The scheme, which was a joint venture between Lasch Enterprises and the ZANU PF Youth League, has manifested an outcry in for instance the Mudzi district. Details obtained from Chimukoko village reveals that $2 was paid to AREX, $36 administration fee and $30 insurance fee, which guarantees a 25kg of maize seed, 8x50kgs of Compound D and 6x50kgs of top dressing fertiliser, which accumulates to $68. Chimukoko alone, which has three wards, paid $6000 which was deposited into a CBZ Bank account.
There are over twenty wards in Mudzi district which culculates to about $40,000 that was swindled from ordinary people in Mudzi. “The rains have fallen in most parts of the country, and yet we are still hoping for the inputs to come. Right now I don’t have any grain to plant, and I wish I would have kept my money and buy the little inputs with that money. Rains have come, and I need to plant but the government is cross legged.” said an irate Chimukoko villager.
In Harare, Central Committee member Absolom Sikhosana was on Thursday detained overnight by angry farmers, while national director for youth affairs Tapiwa Zengeya was force-marched from the Willowvale industrial area to the party’s headquarters as farmers demonstrated against a company jointly-owned by Zanu-PF youth wing and Lasch Investment for failing to deliver inputs.
Over 15 000 farmers might have been duped of varying amounts of money they contributed to the company with the promise that they would get farming inputs this season. Sikhosana confirmed spending the whole night on Thursday detained by farmers at Cold Storage Company, before Zengeya was detained after coming to rescue his colleague.
Said Sikhosana: “I was detained by farmers on Thursday night after I had gone to explain the situation. Farmers said I was supposed to spend the night under harsh conditions so that I could understand their plight. When I tried to drive away, the farmers mobbed my car and blocked me until 4am,” he said.
“We cannot pay back farmers their money. The project relies on membership subscriptions and have since been exhausted. All along the management was trying to get support but it has not materialised. The scheme is unable to provide inputs because it has run out of money,” he said.
Police Spokesperson Charity Charamba yesterday confirmed that the farmers reported a fraud case, while Sikhosana reported a kidnapping case.