Almost 3,000 families who were relocated to make way for the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam face possible eviction again after an unnamed investor claimed ownership of the land allocated to them by the government.
About 20,000 people were moved to Chingwizi, on Nuanetsi Ranch A in Mwenezi District, Masvingo Province, in 2014 after their ancestral homes began to flood to allow for the construction of the 9,600-hectare dam.
They were resettled under Statutory Instrument 53 of 2014, with the government promising land, financial compensation and support to build schools, clinics and other infrastructure.
More than a decade later, villagers say individuals or companies claiming to be investors have entered the land, threatened to demolish their homes and desecrated graves where their relatives are buried.
The claims are contained in a letter sent to Lands Minister Vangelis Haritatos by lawyers Obey Shava and Tatenda Sigauke of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, acting on behalf of the affected families.
“We act for the various households and families who were resettled at Chingwizi Section, Nuanetsi Ranch A, Mwenezi District, Masvingo Province, by virtue of Statutory Instrument 53 of 2014, having been displaced from their original homes in three phases to pave the way for the construction and development of the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam,” the lawyers wrote.
They said their clients have, with the knowledge and approval of the ministry, occupied and developed the land over a considerable period, building homes, schools and clinics and burying deceased family members there.
“We are instructed that, in recent weeks, certain persons and/or companies, purporting to be investors, have entered upon the land occupied by our clients and are disturbing our clients’ peaceful and undisturbed occupation thereof,” the letter states.
“These persons/companies claim to have been allocated the very same land by your ministry.
“We are further instructed that these persons/companies, or those acting on their behalf, have desecrated graves situated on the land and have threatened to raze down our clients’ homes using graders, without producing any order of court or other lawful authority for doing so.”
The lawyers said that despite requests, those claiming the land had failed to produce documentation showing that the villagers’ rights of occupation had been lawfully terminated or that they were the lawful new allottees.
“Our clients are entitled to know, and your ministry is obliged in law and in fairness to disclose, the true position regarding the land which our clients occupy,” they said.
Shava and Sigauke have given the ministry seven days to respond in writing and clarify whether it has allocated, leased or offered any portion of the land currently occupied by their clients to any other person or company.
They are seeking the full identity of any such persons or companies, the legal basis for any new allocation, when and how the villagers’ rights under Statutory Instrument 53 of 2014 were terminated, copies of any offer letters or gazette notices, and what steps the ministry has taken or intends to take to protect the villagers from unlawful eviction, harassment and the threatened demolition of their homes.
The lawyers said the villagers will resist any attempt to remove them illegally.
More: NewZimbabwe.com
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