Tesco condemned for claiming Zimbabweans don't want to eat the food they export

Tesco has been condemned for suggesting that starving Zimbabweans would not want the vegetables it exports from the country.

Critics have likened the firm to a ‘hungry shark’ for bringing tons of produce from the crisis-ridden state to its UK supermarkets.

Millions are going hungry in Zimbabwe, where the economy is in freefall and leader Robert Mugabe is restricting access to food in some areas as a political tool.

Dr Vincent Magombe, director of pressure group African Inform International, said: ‘Tesco is feeding British people, but what we should think about is that the food is being grown on a graveyard. Zimbabwe is becoming a graveyard.

'It is being watered, not by water but by blood and tears of Zimbabwe people.’

He added: ‘All these companies like Tesco…I compare them to hungry sharks who are feeding on the carcass of a dead country. Zimbabwe is a dead country right now.’

The row is expected to be raised today at Tesco’s annual meeting of shareholders in Birmingham.

The supermarket chain insists the money from the Zimbabwe contract goes direct to farmers and so provides a vital lifeline to struggling communities.

Tesco spokesman Dharshini David said yesterday that Zimbabweans would not want the vegetables sent to the UK.

‘We are taking out the kind of vegetables that aren’t eaten much locally,’ she added.

‘These aren’t the kind of products that would make up the staple parts of people’s diets in Zimbabwe.

‘They probably do need food, but they also need money and that is what we are providing them with.’

But it seems unlikely that starving families would reject green beans, sugar snap peas, mange tout, baby corn and broccoli.

Tesco says that its supplier in Zimbabwe – Mitchell & Mitchell – employs around 4,000 people.

Miss David said: ‘We have had that relationship with particular suppliers from Zimbabwe for over ten years. Even though it is a small contract, it affects thousands of employees and it is those employees who receive the money direct from us.

‘That is the reason why we can’t turn our back on Zimbabwe right now. If we did that, it would be those individuals who are already suffering, who would have their lifeline taken away.

‘It would not hurt the Mugabe government, it would hurt all those farmers and their families and all those employees.’

But Nick Clegg have argued that trade sanctions are vital to increase pressure on Mugabe.

Critics say that foreign currency from trade is going to the Mugabe regime and is being used to buy Chinese guns.

Tesco said it does not send foreign currency direct to Zimbabwe and pays its supplier via an account in South Africa.

The operation in Zimbabwe is then 'paid' in kind through the import of fuel and goods from South Africa.

Workers get half their wages in food and half in Zimbabwean dollars, raised from the sale of vegetables from the company’s farms.

June’s food payment will include ten kilos of meal, a litre of cooking oil, two kilos of sugar beans, 500 grams of dried fish and 500 grams of salt.

Sadza, a stiff porridge made from corn meal, is the staple food of Zimbabwe.

It is mostly eaten with local vegetables and, when available, meat.

Miss David’s comments on Richard Bacon’s BBC Radio 5 Live programme yesterday angered many listeners.

One said: ‘The weasel words of the spokeswoman from Tesco are wretched.

‘Doesn’t she realise that people said exactly the same thing about apartheid South Africa?’

Yesterday Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai welcomed comments from Nelson Mandela on the ‘tragic failure of leadership’ in Zimbabwe’

He said: ‘We appreciate the solidarity from Nelson Mandela. It is something we cherish.’