Blackjacks, grass, berries, wild figs, rats, roots and seeds meant for planting have become the staple diet of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans, according to refugees fleeing the hunger.

While the political leaders haggle over cabinet posts in a political stalemate, ordinary Zimbabweans are either fleeing across the borders for food, or are resorting to desperate means at home to find a few morsels to eat.

"My family back home is eating berries, rape and anything else they can find when I cannot send food home to them," a Zimbabwean living at the Methodist Church in Johannesburg said last week. "There are no beverages, no meat. We were poaching for fish in small dams with nets," said one man. If we can't get fish, we eat rats. Others are following the railway lines and the roads used by the grain trucks. They pick up any seeds or grains that fall off and eat them. There is nothing else we can do."