Jacob Mudenda Urges Zimbabweans To Ditch Sadza For Porridge Over Drought Fears

‘Let Everybody Drink Porridge’: Jacob Mudenda’s Warning As Zimbabwe Faces Drought Fears

Zimbabweans have been urged to change their eating habits and conserve maize meal as fears grow over a potentially devastating drought. Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda has called on households to eat more porridge instead of sadza, warning that government assistance alone may not prevent hunger.

Mudenda made the appeal on Friday, 30 October 2026, while addressing legislators at a pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo. He urged MPs to encourage communities to reduce food waste and make available grain supplies last longer.

Jacob Mudenda Recalls How Zimbabweans Survived The 1957 Drought

Mudenda referred to the 1957 drought, recalling how families reduced their daily meals from three to two and increasingly turned to porridge instead of sadza.

He said:

“In 1957, 10 years after the 1947 drought, people began to change how they fed themselves. They reduced from three meals to two meals. I recall I was a toddler then in 1957, instead of cooking isitshwala/sadza, you cook porridge.”

He added:

“Yes, let everybody drink porridge. If you cook porridge you save on mealie-meal. Tell the people that there is no sadza/isitshwala that should be thrown away.”

The Speaker also warned against relying entirely on government resources to address potential food shortages.

“If we rely only on the fiscus, some people will die of hunger,” he said.

Super El Niño Raises Fears Of Another Drought In Zimbabwe

Mudenda’s warning comes amid concerns about extreme temperatures and below-normal rainfall associated with the anticipated Super El Niño.

Zimbabwe remains vulnerable to drought because millions of rural households depend on rain-fed agriculture. The 2023-2024 El Niño drought previously devastated agricultural production across southern Africa.

Mudenda said the 2027 national budget must strengthen social protection programmes and ensure assistance reaches vulnerable households.

He urged MPs to become what he called “apostles of thrift” and educate their constituencies about conserving food.

The coming agricultural season will therefore place pressure on government grain reserves, farmer support programmes and food assistance measures as Zimbabwe prepares for possible drought-related shortages.

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