no longer giving them any audience. There was speculation that the District Administrator had been threatened by ZANU PF officials so that he recuses himself from the matter. Complainants from Buhera and Bikita who sought the intervention of their Member of Parliament alleged that they were told to join the ruling party if they wanted to get food. 3.12. The Complainants contented that denying them agricultural inputs and food aid amounted to violation of the right to food as enshrined in section 77(b) of the Constitution as well as discrimination on the basis of political affiliation. Section 56 (3) of the Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of political affiliation among other grounds hence these complaints. Complainants from Bikita, a drought stricken area, were concerned about starvation as they were being excluded from enjoyment of the free food being availed by the Department of Social Welfare under the Food Deficit Mitigation Programme which was approved by Cabinet in 2010. It was said that the programme was meant to provide to labour constrained households free food to older persons, persons with disabilities and the chronically ill who make up 20-25% of food insecure households in order to mitigate the impact of drought. They said these were supposed to receive a 50kg bag of grain and $10 per month to cover other necessities such as milling and cooking oil. They said in their area people were given $6 cash instead of the prescribed $10. They said they wanted to find out why there was that discrepancy. 4. Methodology In conducting the investigations, the ZHRC employed a number of methods which included desk research, interviews with key informants and interviews with complainants and the respondents. Further, on the 15th of June 2016 the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare gave oral evidence on the Food Deficit Mitigation Programme before the Parliamentary Thematic Committee on Page 7 of 21