that it can have total control of all food in the country. Then it can manipulate a hungry populace in a food deficit situation, ahead of the 2005 election.34 At the very least: The Zimbabwean government's lack of transparency on grain availability in the country could jeopardise access to food for millions of Zimbabweans in the coming months... [the government] is gambling with its citizens’ rights to food.35 The time of greatest hunger in Zimbabwe is in the first few months of any year: by then those households that may have produced some food in the previous season are likely to have run out, and the next harvest is due only from April onwards. The government has scheduled next year’s election for March – the height of the hungry time. The food situation looks set to continue being a cause for deep concern. The latest reports indicate a serious shortage of both seed and fertiliser ahead of the 2004/5 growing season, and only 32% of arable land has been tilled ready for planting, with less than a month to go before farmers should plant next year’s crops.36 The food deficit will clearly continue for the foreseeable future – as will the corresponding opportunity to manipulate supplies. Some Zimbabweans who have fled the country have done so as they fear political victimisation resulting in their being denied the right to food. There is a need to recognise this group of persons, which may become quite sizeable in the year ahead. These people fleeing hunger do not fit the usual refugee profile, and are easily dismissed as so called economic migrants; yet their hunger is the product of politicians denying them food because of their presumed support for the MDC. 34 Human Rights Watch, Briefing paper on Zimbabwe, 12 August 2004. Africa Confidential, May 2004, The government may turn away food aid as part of its ruthless election strategy; 2003 Amnesty International Annual Report, London, 2004; section on Zimbabwe: "The authorities and state-sponsored militia continued to deny people access to food aid based on real or perceived political affiliation, and used food aid to buy votes during parliamentary by-elections…. Political manipulation of food aid by officials and supporters of the ruling Zanu PF continued. The food situation remained critical." 35 Human Rights Watch, Briefing paper on Zimbabwe, 12 August 2004. 36 Zimbabwe Independent, Only 32% of land ready for planting, 8 October 2004; Zim Online (SA), Maize seed, fertiliser shortages, hit country, 12 October 2004. 26