News / Regional
Villagers to petition Mugabe
21 Oct 2014 at 05:32hrs | Views
Ndlovu villagers, whose area is located 30 kilometres from Victoria Falls, are set to present a petition to President Robert Mugabe after losing their communal land to a private contractor.
As the situation turns volatile, villagers who are facing eviction without compensation from the land they have inhabited since 1955, after being dumped there by the Ian Smith regime, are now pinning their hopes on President Mugabe, with whom they are pleading to intervene in the matter.
A land developer - Gushungo Housing Scheme - revealed a plan to create a modern Victoria Falls satellite town in the area where villagers stay despite the fact that there is a vast land in the vicinity.
What worries residents is that the evictions are taking place on the eve of the planting season, raising fears of starvation if the villagers are deprived of their farming land, which the contractor has already started clearing in preparation for a roads network.
Villagers, who are deemed too vocal, now claim they are being victimised and framed for threatening to kill some council officials accused of working in cahoots with the contractor.
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs minister Cain Mathema last Thursday said he was too busy to talk to The Zimbabwe Mail when approached for a comment about the goings on at Ndlovu Village.
In the one page draft petition to President Mugabe penned by the villagers recently, which this newspaper is in possession of, the villagers are calling on the president to intervene.
"We have a problem as Hwange's Kachechete Ward three villagers. Our residency is being invaded by Gushungo Housing Co-operative.
"We are troubled. We are being arrested on false accusations. They are threatening us and accusing us of wanting to kill them.
"As villagers, we only gathered up and halted their operations but they have raised trumped up charges against us.
"They have taken our land and have pegged our fields, but they claim to be developing Council Land. We are kindly asking that council land developments be shelved because the contractor is hiding behind (sic).
"They have threatened to dig-up the graves of our husbands and give us the remains. May you please intervene because these people are using your name," read part of the draft petition which is yet to be polished and presented to relevant authorities.
A local Human Rights activist, Butholezwe Kgosi Nyathi, called on stakeholders involved to provide alternative land before they may develop the land to avert the possibility of villagers starving.
"Communal farm land has been taken over and no alternative land provided. With the 2014-2015 agriculture season upon us, there is a genuine threat of widespread hunger as no communal farming is taking place.
"We call upon government to allocate alternative land, with all basic social services before villagers are relocated," said Nyathi.
As the situation turns volatile, villagers who are facing eviction without compensation from the land they have inhabited since 1955, after being dumped there by the Ian Smith regime, are now pinning their hopes on President Mugabe, with whom they are pleading to intervene in the matter.
A land developer - Gushungo Housing Scheme - revealed a plan to create a modern Victoria Falls satellite town in the area where villagers stay despite the fact that there is a vast land in the vicinity.
What worries residents is that the evictions are taking place on the eve of the planting season, raising fears of starvation if the villagers are deprived of their farming land, which the contractor has already started clearing in preparation for a roads network.
Villagers, who are deemed too vocal, now claim they are being victimised and framed for threatening to kill some council officials accused of working in cahoots with the contractor.
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs minister Cain Mathema last Thursday said he was too busy to talk to The Zimbabwe Mail when approached for a comment about the goings on at Ndlovu Village.
In the one page draft petition to President Mugabe penned by the villagers recently, which this newspaper is in possession of, the villagers are calling on the president to intervene.
"We have a problem as Hwange's Kachechete Ward three villagers. Our residency is being invaded by Gushungo Housing Co-operative.
"We are troubled. We are being arrested on false accusations. They are threatening us and accusing us of wanting to kill them.
"As villagers, we only gathered up and halted their operations but they have raised trumped up charges against us.
"They have taken our land and have pegged our fields, but they claim to be developing Council Land. We are kindly asking that council land developments be shelved because the contractor is hiding behind (sic).
"They have threatened to dig-up the graves of our husbands and give us the remains. May you please intervene because these people are using your name," read part of the draft petition which is yet to be polished and presented to relevant authorities.
A local Human Rights activist, Butholezwe Kgosi Nyathi, called on stakeholders involved to provide alternative land before they may develop the land to avert the possibility of villagers starving.
"Communal farm land has been taken over and no alternative land provided. With the 2014-2015 agriculture season upon us, there is a genuine threat of widespread hunger as no communal farming is taking place.
"We call upon government to allocate alternative land, with all basic social services before villagers are relocated," said Nyathi.
Source - Zim Mail
