By Tovin Ngombe
Senior Chief Mweemba of the Tonga people said the hunger situation in Sinazongwe District would be worse in September if government fails to send relief food to save his subjects from starvation.
The Senior Chief who was speaking through his representative Richwell Ntundulu at his palace said the hunger situation in his areas has continued to haunt his people because of the poor rainfall experienced in the district in the previous farming season.
Senior Chief Mweemba said government should urgently send relief food to save the starving villagers from perishing of hunger.
“The situation is pathetic, it is a dry season and there are no fruits that people can pick up to eat, my people are not being cared for even the local investors are doing nothing to assist them,” Senior Chief Mweemba said.
The chief who was also able to utter a few words because of his poor health said Kafwambila, Siampondo, Muuka, Denganza, and Kanchindu the area around his palace were the most affected.
He said people living in Siameja had no land to cultivate from because the area was too rocky adding that it was not out of there own making that they fail to grow food.
“But displacement has done them more harm because they were growing their own food before they came to this place,” the Senior Chief said.
The number of people requiring relief food in Sinazongwe district has doubled as compared to last year’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) estimates.
Sinazongwe District Commissioner (DC) Laiven Apuleni said in March that the number of people in need of relief food has swelled from 5,241 to 10,656.
The DC disclosed that he was receives a lot of calls from people who want to know what was being done to save people from starvation.
Statistics from the District Agriculture office indicates that Sinazongwe has a population of 80,750 and it has 99,300 arable land and only 20,000 is cultivated annually.
