News / National
Kasukuwere, war vets on collision course
27 Jul 2017 at 06:38hrs | Views
LOCAL Government minister and Zanu-PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere has set himself on a collision course with war veterans resettled on the periphery of Masvingo city, after he offered part of their land to the Infrastructural Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) for the construction of a housing project.
Kasukuwere, who was accompanied by Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Shuvai Mahofa, allocated 100 hectares to IDBZ on Monday during a tour of Clipsharm housing scheme.
The low-cost housing project is jointly owned by the bank in partnership with George Safaris and George Holdings Limited.
"We are giving the bank an additional 100 hectares across the street for housing development," he said.
"Minister Mahofa, do you allow them? Are they fit for the offer?"
Incidentally, the land falls under Masvingo Rural District Council administered by the Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Culture and Heritage ministry headed by Abednego Ncube.
Some of the beneficiaries told NewsDay that they would resist attempts to evict them.
"We will not take that lying down. We were settled here long back by the government and given plots, which we are farming.
"Some of us have already built permanent structures and we have nowhere else to go," one of the beneficiaries, who requested anonymity, said.
Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, who was the guest of honour at the function, said the government was free to repossess any land without tittle deeds for urban development since all land issued under the land reform programme is State land.
"All land, except on title deeds, belongs to the President," he said.
"All land given under the land reform programme is State land.
"There is no one with authority to build on that land without the authority of the President.
"If you do that, it is illegal and we will not hesitate to bulldoze the structures."
Chinamasa said a policy to acquire land for urban development was on the cards so that the government could change land use under the land reform programme for urban development.
"We are going to sit down with Kasukuwere and Ncube to sponsor a policy on land ownership," he said.
"There should be a decision to extend boundaries of cities and we can have new cities mushrooming and that land (to build cities) can be obtained from land we acquired under the land reform programme."
Kasukuwere, who was accompanied by Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Shuvai Mahofa, allocated 100 hectares to IDBZ on Monday during a tour of Clipsharm housing scheme.
The low-cost housing project is jointly owned by the bank in partnership with George Safaris and George Holdings Limited.
"We are giving the bank an additional 100 hectares across the street for housing development," he said.
"Minister Mahofa, do you allow them? Are they fit for the offer?"
Incidentally, the land falls under Masvingo Rural District Council administered by the Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Culture and Heritage ministry headed by Abednego Ncube.
Some of the beneficiaries told NewsDay that they would resist attempts to evict them.
"We will not take that lying down. We were settled here long back by the government and given plots, which we are farming.
"Some of us have already built permanent structures and we have nowhere else to go," one of the beneficiaries, who requested anonymity, said.
Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, who was the guest of honour at the function, said the government was free to repossess any land without tittle deeds for urban development since all land issued under the land reform programme is State land.
"All land, except on title deeds, belongs to the President," he said.
"All land given under the land reform programme is State land.
"There is no one with authority to build on that land without the authority of the President.
"If you do that, it is illegal and we will not hesitate to bulldoze the structures."
Chinamasa said a policy to acquire land for urban development was on the cards so that the government could change land use under the land reform programme for urban development.
"We are going to sit down with Kasukuwere and Ncube to sponsor a policy on land ownership," he said.
"There should be a decision to extend boundaries of cities and we can have new cities mushrooming and that land (to build cities) can be obtained from land we acquired under the land reform programme."
Source - newsday
