Govt. Suspends Magunje Cement Project

The government has suspended the proposed Magunje cement project in Hurungwe, Mashonaland West Province, following allegations of procedural irregularities and breaches in land allocation.

The project, reportedly spearheaded by Labenmon Investments, had been promoted as a major industrial venture intended to stimulate economic activity in the Magunje area.

Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for devolution and decentralisation, Tafadzwa Muguti, confirmed the suspension during a high-level engagement meeting held in the province.

The decision follows complaints from traditional leaders and local authorities, who raised concerns about the manner in which communal land was allocated to the investor, reportedly without full compliance with legal and administrative procedures.

Muguti stressed that while the government remains committed to attracting investment, it will not condone the violation of laws in the name of development. Said Muguti:

We welcome investors in Mashonaland West and across Zimbabwe, but no one should come and operate in a vacuum or bypass established procedures.

We don’t have room for an investor who just appears without engaging the Minister of State (for Provincial Affairs and Devolution), the RDC, (rural development council) or relevant line ministries. That is unprocedural and unacceptable.

Muguti said that the Government has been looking into the issue since September last year. He said:

This issue didn’t start yesterday. I personally looked into it with Minister (of State Security) Lovemore Matuke last year and directed the province to handle it properly.

But after Minister Marian Chombo raised the (red) flag again, it was clear that nothing had been resolved and that things were falling apart.

Muguti explained that the land in question falls under communal land and is therefore classified as State land under the Communal Land Act.

He said that while traditional leaders serve as custodians of communal land, they do not have the legal authority to allocate it for commercial purposes.

Muguti said prospective investors must first obtain a licence from the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA). Once approved, they are referred to the relevant Rural District Council (RDC), which provides guidance on land allocation in line with its master plan, in coordination with the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works and, where applicable, the Ministry of Lands.

In the case of the Magunje cement project, Muguti said the investor neither acquired a ZIDA licence nor engaged the RDC. Furthermore, he added, the investor’s actual physical address remains unknown.

More: The Sunday Mail

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