Mnangagwa Introduces Roller Meal Cash Grants

Vulnerable households will start receiving cash grants pegged at a higher level than the price of roller meal to enable them to source the basic commodity from any place of their choice, President Mnangagwa has said.Government recently stopped the subsidy on roller meal after realisation that some top officials and those in positions of influence were abusing the facility and benefiting at the expense of targeted groups.Speaking during a briefing on the Cyclone Idai Recovery programme in Mutare last night, the President said Cabinet this week approved the new method of assisting vulnerable households with cash grants which will be availed through the Department of Social Welfare.The department is expected to compile a database of all vulnerable households countrywide before the money is disbursed.“On the roller meal issue raised by Minister (Ellen) Gwaradzimba (Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution), initially this roller-meal programme was subsidised, but we realised that there was no mechanism in place of identifying the persons which we had in mind to benefit from it.“It became apparent that even us in this room, especially us on the top table, were also buying that roller-meal at subsidised prices and yet we have the capacity to buy without the subsidy,” said President Mnangagwa. –The Herald