Harare - The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has applauded the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) for taking a bold stand against the partisan distribution of food aid by some overzealous Zanu PF supporters and government officials.
In a statement Tuesday, the Forum said the move was coming at the right time when millions of Zimbabweans in the countryside were faced with hunger due to the El Nino-induced drought and was a sure sign of the independence of the Commission. “The President himself spoke against partisan food aid distribution. This is because hunger knows no party line or card. Regardless of this, his party supporters are in contempt of his position. The Forum, therefore, welcomes this bold and timely intervention by the ZHRC on partisan food aid distribution.”
The Forum said the findings by the Commission had vindicated the complaints by human rights defenders and citizens in general about discrimination and partisanship in the distribution of food aid.
The forum said people had to be treated equally when it came to food aid because food was a basic need for everyone, regardless of divergent political views. “Many people have been affected by drought; as such food aid must not be used as a political bait to lure people to support some political parties. The Forum is concerned that such behaviour exhibited by some overzealous ZANU PF party members and other civil servants may escalate as Zimbabwe drifts towards 2018 elections,” the Forum said.
It said the responsibility to protect citizens lay with the government, adding that this was a non-partisan obligation.
Section 58 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the Forum noted, gave every citizen the right to freedom of assembly, which association could be political and could not be used as a basis for discrimination. “Every person has the right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds as their nationality, race, colour, tribe, place of birth, ethnic or social origin, language, class, religious belief, political affiliation, opinion, custom, culture, sex, gender, marital status, age, pregnancy, disability or economic or social status, or whether they were born in or out of wedlock.”
African News Agency