Covid-19: Outcry over grocery vouchers

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People living with disabilities in Bulawayo say they are being left out in the distribution of grocery vouchers meant to cushion vulnerable people from the effects of Covid-19.

People living with disabilities in Bulawayo say they are being left out in the distribution of grocery vouchers meant to cushion vulnerable people from the effects of Covid-19.

BY SILAS NKALA

The World Food Programme (WFP) in May introduced an e-voucher scheme to benefit over 224 000 vulnerable families in urban areas.

It also promised to expand the urban social assistance programme to reach 124 000 new beneficiaries with food.

However, people living with disabilities in the city said they were being sidelined.

John Munetsi Jemwa, a visually impaired resident from Pumula, said the government had never issued disability grants for the upkeep and well-being of citizens with disabilities.

“We are five in my family, myself visually impaired, my wife physically disabled and three children. We are currently surviving on one meal a day,” Jemwa said. “We used to do some vending activities, but due to World Health Organisation Covid-19 health guidelines we were seriously affected.”

He said they had since petitioned Bulawayo Provincial Affairs minister Judith Ncube, the Social Welfare department and the WFP to seek redress.

In a petition to the government submitted through the provincial development coordinator, people living with disabilities said they were disgruntled over their exclusion and lack of representation in various programmes.

They said the government was reluctant to domesticate the UN Charter on rights of disabled persons, which can address several challenges to lives of the disabled.

The activists said the dire situation had seen most of them living from handouts.

“Due to the violation of the internal laws, aid supposed to benefit disabled persons ends up in wrong hands depriving the most deserving group,” reads their petition.

Visually-impaired Cowdray Park resident Adonia Dube said he did not get WFP assistance and was struggling to survive .

“I am not benefiting from the WFP voucher programme and I wonder who is benefiting when we the most disadvantaged are not getting the vouchers. I survive through begging on the street at Bulawayo Centre and life is very difficult for me and my family,” Dube said.

Rameck Manyepo said he was struggling to feed his family of eight.

“I am appealing for food and even my kids are going to school, but I struggle to raise the money for fees,” Manyepo said.

WFP field officer Roseline Magarira, who is based in Harare, confirmed receiving calls from activists, saying they were representing people living with disabilities in Bulawayo.

Magarira advised the aggrieved to visit the WFP’s Bulawayo offices to understand what the organisation was doing.