Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Shuvai Mahofa last week aborted a trip to Samba Ranch in Chiredzi after angry settlers warned that they would beat her up.
By our correspondent
Mahofa and officials from the Ministry of Lands intended to evict newly resettled farmers from the ranch, allegedly to pave way for a well-known Harare businessman who could not be named for legal reasons. The businessman wants to embark on a sugarcane project on that piece of land.
According to sources, the resettled farmers had threatened war on anyone coming to evict them, forcing Mahofa to cancel her trip to meet them and instead, singled out village heads for a closed door meeting at the District Administrator’s office.
The villagers had been on the ranch for the past 15 years and the businessman is keen to kick out the villagers so that he can expand his sugar cane farming business.
Mohafa’s advance team which had visited the ranch earlier in that morning alerted the Provincial Affairs minister that the villagers were baying for her blood, forcing an about-turn in the minister’s proposed meeting with the villagers.
The Standard later caught up with one of the chairmen soon after the meeting and he confirmed that Mahofa could have been harmed had she dared to visit the ranch.
Although no journalists were allowed in the closed meeting that lasted for seven hours, sources who attended it, told The Standard that Mahofa was forced to stop the intended evictions following fierce resistance by village heads.
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“We were told not to talk to any reporter but the issue is that we have been spared for now,” one village head who attended the meeting said.
“We are not sure whether the issue is over but we have made our point heard that we are prepared to spill blood for our homes some of us have built permanent and expensive houses and we have huge livestock so where can we go.” Efforts to get a comment from Mahofa yielded no results as the minister swiftly drove off straight after the meeting.
Clara Muzenda, Chiredzi District Administrator whose office hosted the meeting was also whisked away from journalists who swooped on her for a comment soon after the meeting.
About eight village heads attended the meeting.
Villagers alleged that government was trying to reverse “the gains of struggle” by evicting them on the 4000 hectares piece of land to give way to a sole farmer, who has supplied vehicles the government.
Meanwhile, Chiredzi Ward 3 Councillor Tarusenga Makamba was manhandled by vendors and commuter omnibus owners, accusing him and his fellow councillors of chasing them from their selling point at Nyore-Nyore, in Chiredzi town. A day before commuter omnibus owners, vendors and Chiredzi town councillors clashed after the later forcibly removed them from their usual trading point at Nyore-Nyore in Tshovani.
On Thursday, council police forcibly removed vendors from the place to another close to the railway station, where vendors are saying there are no toilets and water. The manhandling stopped upon arrival of the news crew. “We want council to upgrade the new area where they are relocating us. After all we are paying money every day and where is that money going,” said a commuter driver who only identified himself as Oscar.
Makamba said he was not aware of the evictions but he is only a victim because the area is in his ward. “I was just passing by and these people mobbed me. I told them that we have to sit as council and them to hear their grievances unfortunately they could take none of that hence this situation,” Makamba said.
