US embassy cable - 03HARARE440

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000440 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USAID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA FOR KHANDAGLE AND MARX, 
DCHA/FFP FOR LANDIS, PETERSEN AND WHELAN, 
AFR/SA FOR FORT AND COPSON 
STATE FOR AF/S DELISI AND RAYNOR 
NAIROBI FOR DCHA/OFDA/ARO FOR RILEY 
NSC FOR DWORKIN 
PRETORIA FOR USAID/DCHA/FFP FOR DISKIN, 
DCHA/OFDA FOR BRYAN AND FAS FOR HELM 
ROME PLEASE PASS TO FODAG 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREL, US, ZI 
SUBJECT: U.N./Government/Donors Meeting on the 
Zimbabwe Humanitarian Crisis 
 
REF: (A) Harare 293 (WFP Expands Zimbabwe 
Distribution During January 2/10/03), 
(B) Harare 260 (UN/Donor/GOZ Meeting on the 
Zimbabwe Food Crisis dated 2/5/03); 
(C) Harare 217 (cable on SE Morris visit) 
 
1. Summary: On February 24, Ambassador 
Sullivan, USAID Director Weisenfeld and AidOff 
attended the regular bi-weekly U.N.-sponsored 
meeting on the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe 
with concerned Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) 
and international donor country 
representatives.  Meeting presentations 
focused on food distributions and pipelines, 
including the GOZ's Rural and Urban Public 
Works (cash-for-work) Program and its 
associated Grain Marketing Board food 
distribution system, and the status of 
on-going and future WFP operations in 
Zimbabwe.  Additional discussions covered the 
status of the on-going national health and 
nutrition survey, other planned surveys and 
assessments, on-going supplementary child 
feeding programs, new donor contributions and 
the status of various policy issues related to 
the food crisis.  Although much information 
was discussed, little of it was new or of 
substantive import.  Nevertheless, the meeting 
remains a useful venue to maintain a direct 
donor/government dialogue on humanitarian 
issues.  End Summary. 
 
2. On February 24, Ambassador Sullivan, USAID 
Director Weisenfeld and AidOff attended the 
regular bi-weekly U.N.-sponsored meeting on 
the Zimbabwe humanitarian crisis with 
concerned government and international donor 
country representatives.  The meeting was 
chaired by U.N. Humanitarian Co-ordinator 
(UNHC) for Zimbabwe (J. Victor Angelo), with 
country representatives from WHO, UNICEF, FAO 
and WFP.  GOZ representatives included the 
Minister of Health and Child Welfare (M/H&CW), 
Dr. David Parirenyatwa, and senior-level 
representatives from the GOZ ministries of 
Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare 
(M/PS,L&SW), Education, and Small Enterprise 
Development.  Chiefs of Mission and associated 
Donor Agency Heads of most major bilateral 
donor countries to Zimbabwe also attended. 
 
3. Following introductory comments, the 
meeting commenced with a prepared 
presentation, accompanied by a written 
handout, by the GOZ Director of Social Welfare 
(Mhishi) on the government's cash-for-work 
program and related GOZ Grain Marketing Board 
(GMB) food sales/distribution activities. 
This was the first time the GOZ described to 
the donors in any detail the mechanics of its 
food distribution programs.  The presentation, 
however, explained the theory of the programs 
and did not address actual, on-the-ground 
experience with implementation or allegations 
of politicization or corruption.  Highlights 
of the GOZ's presentation follow: 
 
-A. Rural and Urban Public Works Program (RU- 
PWP): 
- As explained by the GOZ representative, the 
purpose of the "cash-for-work" program is "to 
provide a quick response for the support of 
vulnerable households (HHs) and individuals 
through cash transfers for labor-intensive 
public works co-ordinated by local 
authorities" to enable the beneficiaries to 
purchase food. 
- The chronically ill, elderly and disabled 
receive free cash allowances to purchase food 
(see GMB distributions/sales system below); 
the able-bodied work for their cash/food. 
Separate registers for each of these two 
categories of beneficiaries are maintained at 
the local (village/ward/district) level. 
- Benefiting HHs receive ZWD 1500 per month 
for 15 days of work (equivalent to 3 
persons/HH working five days each per month). 
The amount is based on the official controlled 
price of maize (ZWD 560/kilogram), and the 
fact that this income is only meant to 
supplement other sources of income (and is not 
meant to satisfy total food requirements). 
Participants are paid weekly in urban areas, 
and monthly in rural areas. 
-Both beneficiaries and projects are selected 
by traditional and conventional authorities at 
the local level.  M/PS,L&SW provides monthly 
allocations to each district based on need, 
population estimates and drought intensity, as 
reflected in various past and on-going 
assessments.  On average, approximately 
ZWD 1 million is provided to each ward in each 
district per month. 
- To date, the program is operational in all 
58 rural districts, and 26 urban areas of the 
country, benefiting approximately 1.3 million 
HHs on a monthly basis.  The GOZ estimates 
that approximately double this number (2.7 
million HHs) are eligible for participation in 
this program. 
- No special food purchase arrangements are 
organized for program beneficiaries, i.e., 
"once they receive their allowance, they join 
everybody else to purchase food (via the GMB 
sales/distribution system below)." 
 
-B. GMB Grain Distribution: 
- The GMB grain distribution is headed a 
National Task Force, chaired by the Minister 
of National Security, N. Goche.  This Task 
Force is responsible for government grain 
purchases/imports and allocation of available 
stocks to the different regions of the 
country. 
- Grain distribution is decentralized through 
similar GMB and local government Task Forces 
at the provincial, district, ward and 
village levels. 
- The distribution system varies for urban and 
rural areas.  In urban areas, distribution 
flows from millers to retailers for subsequent 
sale to consumers through normal commercial 
channels. 
Due to perceived problems with this system 
(e.g., alleged private sector hoarding, 
conditional sales and black marketeering), 
Mhishi stated that the GOZ is now looking at 
the formation of Food Distribution Committees 
to provide food directly to vulnerable urban 
HHs "to ensure transparency and 
accountability."  [Note: In response to an FAO 
query on food availability in one Harare 
suburban area, Mhishi characterized the Harare 
area as a private sector "free-for-all" 
situation under which it was next to 
impossible to accurately trace food supplies.] 
- In rural areas, grain is distributed through 
existing GMB depots and fixed and mobile 
"selling points," rather than through 
commercial channels. "Beneficiary" registers 
are maintained at the local (ward) level by 
local authorities.  In response to a 
follow-up question, Mhishi noted that 
government program beneficiaries excluded 
beneficiaries also receiving food aid through 
WFP and other donor assistance. 
- Mhishi described the major constraints to 
this system include: 
1) inadequacy of grain supplies (leading to 
severe shortages, hoarding, black 
marketeering and other abuses noted above); 
2) transport problems (delays in rail 
transport, WFP competition for available 
transport assets); 3) cash shortages 
(particularly to pay transporters); and 4) 
lack of GMB capacity to properly monitor 
system operations.  In response to a query on 
the status of the proposal that of the U.N's 
new Relief Information & Validation division 
assist the government in meeting these program 
monitoring requirements, Mhishi stated that 
"this was part of a broader proposal that was 
still being considered." 
 
4. The Director of Nutrition (M/H&CW) then 
provided a brief summary report on the status 
of the on-going national Nutritional/Expanded 
Immunization Program survey.  Training 
was completed in late-January/early-February; 
data collection is complete in all districts, 
except Binga which is expected to be completed 
this week.  Data entry is in progress in all 
districts, and is expected to be completed by 
end-February.  Data analysis and report 
writing will be completed in early-March, with 
a final draft report expected o/a March 17. In 
response to a query from SCF/UK on the need 
for a more comprehensive "livelihoods" 
approach to vulnerability assessment (as 
opposed to relying too heavily on nutrition 
data alone), the Director noted that this 
survey was being closely co-ordinated with on- 
going Vulnerability Assessment Committee work, 
which would complement the nutrition survey 
results with other household-level data. 
 
5. This discussion was followed by a 
presentation by WFP Country Representative 
Farrell summarizing, the status and future 
situation of the on-going international food 
assistance program for Zimbabwe.  Most of this 
information was the same as that reported in 
reftel A.  Additional highlights included: 
- Despite a slower than hoped for start, 
operations were generally going well now, with 
a solid program pipeline projected through 
April 2003. 
- WFP projects a shortfall of 73,260 MT in May 
and June (approximately half of which is 
cereals).  This projection, however, was 
disputed as not adequately reflecting reduced 
beneficiary requirements as a result of the 
March/April harvest.  Farrell's response was 
that while current beneficiary numbers may 
decrease during this period, additional 
allocations would be required for heretofore 
uncovered groups, such as the urban poor and 
populations in commercial farming areas that 
were becoming increasingly vulnerable. 
Farrell also indicated that WFP would continue 
to reevaluate its projected numbers of 
beneficiaries over the coming months. 
- Despite a current serious bottleneck at the 
Beitbridge border post (due to GOZ 
road/parking rehabilitation work), WFP still 
expected to be able to meet its import targets 
and pipeline requirements. 
- A major problem was lack of (government) 
market supplies of food in rural areas; in 
many areas, international food aid was 
becoming the "vast majority" of available 
supplies.  In this regard, Farrell noted the 
need for more specific and detailed 
information on GOZ/GMB distributions and 
future import plans and schedules.  In 
response, the GOZ noted that while we could 
"count on" government figures already provided 
through April 2003, they had no reliable 
information at present on GOZ imports beyond 
that time. 
- The GOZ expressed their concern that there 
were no additional international aid supplies 
indicated beyond June 2003 (when the next 
"hungry season" begins). 
- In response to the stated preference for 
wet/blanket (vs. dry ration) supplementary 
feeding for children by the M/H&CW, WFP 
indicated that it was starting to phase out 
its dry supplementary feeding ration over the 
next few months in response to the increased 
coverage (and preference) for wet/blanket 
supplementary feeding programs through 
bilateral NGO programs.  In the course of this 
discussion, M/H&CW's Director of Nutrition 
stated that two UNICEF handouts on 
supplementary child feeding activities 
throughout the country were inaccurate (UNICEF 
maintains that they were compiled with full 
Ministry knowledge and participation). 
 
6. Following these major presentations, the 
U.K. announced a new British Pound 5.35 
million contribution to the Zimbabwe relief 
effort.  Approximately British Pounds 4.1 
million of this contribution would be used to 
help cover the costs of transporting 
Zimbabwe's share (64,000 MT) of the recent 
100,000 MT South Africa contribution to the 
regional food crisis to Zimbabwe, with the 
balance of 1.25 million to be used by WFP for 
additional cereals. Thanking the British for 
this additional contribution, UNHC Angelo 
noted that the Norwegians were also 
contributing to the transport costs of this 
South Africa maize. 
 
7. Other Points: 
- In response to queries regarding the 
likely crop harvest prospects, the GOZ 
stated that reliable information on the 
current season harvest will not be available 
until the formal mid-season crop 
assessment is completed in March. 
- In response to a British query following-up 
on various policy issues raised at prior 
meetings, the UNHC noted that the recent 
Economic Stimulus Package approved by 
government (see septels - documentation 
expected this week from the Ministry of 
Finance) partially addressed several salient 
issues such as the exchange rate, fuel prices, 
and farmer producer prices for controlled food 
commodities.  The UNHC also noted that 
discussions were on-going on other issues 
(e.g., GMB monopoly, joint monitoring of aid, 
etc.). 
- The UNHC also made the following 
announcements: the Special U.N. Envoys' recent 
trip report focusing on HIV/AIDS impacts on 
the food crisis is available (see reftel C); 
no start date has yet been set for the joint 
GOZ/UN commercial farming area survey, 
although the questionnaire to be used has been 
agreed upon; a Humanitarian Principles 
workshop proposed for last week had been 
postponed due to the unavailability of key GOZ 
participants; and that a group was working on 
plans for a major Humanitarian Roundtable for 
Zimbabwe for March/April 2003. 
- Finally, the UNHC noted that future such 
joint UN/GOZ/Donor Meetings would be held 
every three weeks (instead of bi-monthly), 
with the next meeting scheduled for March 17. 
 
8. Comment: While this meeting demonstrated an 
improved flow of information, much of what was 
discussed was already known by most 
participants, with little new information of 
any serious import discussed.  However, the 
meeting's dynamics suggest an increased ease 
and familiarity of all parties with each other 
and with the issues on the table.  It remains 
to be seen, however, if the proposed strategy 
of less frequent such meetings will produce 
any more productive results.  SULLIVAN