Zuma food aid rots in warehouseA consignment of food aid is to be disposed of because it has been contaminated. Donated maize meal not fit for consumption The Office of the Prime Minister has admitted that bags of special maize meal, which was part of a huge donation from the South African government at the beginning of the year, is still being kept at the warehouse of its directorate of emergency and disaster management in Windhoek.This newspaper was tipped off about the roughly 450 bags of maize meal, which is in a warehouse on Nickel Street in the Prosperita Industrial area, a day after the Office of the Prime Minister issued a statement in which it denied allegations that it was distributing drought relief that lacks balance, poor nutrition and is not fit for human consumption.
The tip-off also came a few days before Namibia was to host the Africa drought relief conference in Windhoek that took place from 15 to 19 August.
The bags are labelled as a “gift of South Africa”, and, according to the labelling, the maize meal was produced by Pride Milling Co. (Pty) Ltd. in Nigel in December 2015 with the expiry date indicated as June 2016.
When first asked about the maize meal bags kept at Prosperita in the middle of August, the spokesperson in the Office of the Prime Minister, Saima Shaanika, denied that there were any remaining bags, saying the warehouse was empty.
Upon further enquiries to the directorate of emergency and disaster management unit, Shaanika however, responded last week that the bags currently kept in the warehouse “were declared not fit for consumption in January already”.
“They were contaminated during the logistic management. They were only kept there [in the warehouse] waiting to be disposed off in line with treasury instruction on how government properties should be disposed of,” said Shaanika last week.
She did not say how the contamination occurred and who, either the South African or Namibian government, handled the bags of maize meal.
The deputy head of the South African High Commission, Eli Bitzer, last Friday (also could not respond to questions regarding the consignment of maize meal because he was travelling.
He, however, said the high commission was not informed that the maize meal was contaminated.
Shaanika said the South African government made a drought relief donation to its Namibian counterpart between December last year and January.
She said the value of all donated items, which include borehole rehabilitation and cowpeas in addition to the maize meal, was estimated at N$100 million.
Bitzer said the programme for the rehabilitation of boreholes accounted for about N$50 million while the rest accounted for the remaining N$50 million.
CATHERINE SASMAN