Disgusting gluttons
Less than two weeks ago the news was that Zimbabwe had reached a deal with the UN for food aid to feed 3 million Zimbabweans until the end of June next year.
The Standard carried a story on the feasting at zanu-pfs recent conference and it is completely disgusting. ‘Still Here’ posted earlier this week about the conference and commented on the feasting, in one of Zimbabwe’s poorest areas: “The smell of that meat must have driven anyone in smelling distance completely insane with hunger”. If you think that that is overstating things, just read the list of food that 3000 delegates, over 4 days, cooked and consumed:
Fifty beasts were slaughtered for the 3 000 delegates, who were also expected by the end of today to have sampled other dishes following the sourcing of 48 goats, 11 kudu, five reed bucks, 17 impala, five buffaloes, 1.19 tonnes of rice, 60 chickens, 50 kg of wheat and 11 tonnes of maize meal.
Those with a gluttonous appetite for three-course meals and continental breakfast were not left out as there were 250 bags of oranges, a tonne of tomatoes, 400 cabbages, 60 litres of ice cream and other assorted foodstuffs.
And what did Mugabe have to say about this, so soon after settling a deal with the UN for food aid for his starving people?
“When I arrived, I was complaining to (Governor Thokozile) Mathuthu saying that I wanted meat. Now, I don’t want steak but liver. Where is the liver?” he asked, sending delegates into a fit of laughter.
Such a nice guy, and so entertaining and witty! That’s why we all love him so much.
Bitter anger aside, my sums below show estimates of weights for the food listed in The Standard - the weights for all the animals come from a range of farming and wildlife sources and I’ve tried to be conservative with my guesses. Some of the food they had wasn’t listed in the article so please realise that these figures are actually smaller than they should be.
But it seems to me that these individuals each had about 20.79 kg of food to eat for the duration of the conference. Which means that they EACH had 5.20 kg of food to eat PER DAY! And that doesn’t include the ‘other assorted foodstuffs’.
I know someone that I am giving a chicken for Christmas because their family hasn’t been able to afford meat for well over a year. I know another person, a pensioner, who I occassionally help because they struggle to pay for a couple of carrots in a week.
In the context of Zimbabwe - hyper-inflation and starvation - this display of gluttony in one of the poorest areas in our country is not insensitive: I think it’s evil!
December 14th, 2005 16:00
Keep up the good reporting. We have many friends still in Zim, and are doing what we can to educate our friends here in the US about the conditions in Zim. Our heart is breaking.
December 16th, 2005 01:38
Small Town Diva: Every little bit everyone does to spread the word and raise awareness helps! Thank you very much.