…who stands to lose more?
…village heads sacrificed as real land barons go scot-free
By Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – Traditional leaders heavily criticized the on-going ‘Operation Order No to Land Barons’ being implemented by the Ministry of Lands in collaboration with local council, police and other stakeholders saying it’s only sacrificing villagers and their village heads while the real land barons in the country go scot-free.
This comes after police has so far arrested over 500 villagers and village heads in Masvingo province for allegedly being allocated pieces of land in restricted areas and selling state or council land respectively.
Local chiefs however condemned government for implementing the project without their involvement, only to hear about it later that their subjects were being arrested notwithstanding that they are the custodians of land and culture.
Chief Bere born Phinias Tafireyi lashed out at the implementing authority saying they invaded his area without consulting him and went on to arrest people who were legally settled leaving those who were illegally placed by rival chiefs.
“The programme that was initiated by the President is noble but it has been hijacked by crooks who are implementing it in a wrong way. How can they come to my area of jurisdiction without my knowledge? I am the one who knows illegal settlers and those who are not.
“Right now they are displacing and arresting people who we placed legally, since the resuscitation of our chieftaincy, we have been settling people just like any other chief, if you go to Chief Nyakunhuwa, you will see there are people who have been staying in the area for years without any document, so what is different from Chief Bere?” fumed Bere.
He went on to say he has since approached the police and other stakeholders to raise concern over the matter and said they were all blaming each other.
“I want you to ask the police, EMA or DDC if they ever approached me over the issue, I was supposed to go with them and help them identify the illegal settlers. I even went on to see them but they are simply accusing each other.
“The whole process was manipulated and now those being placed by bogus village heads and chiefs in my area are being left whilst our people are being arrested,” Bere said.
Chief Murinye born Ephias Munodawafa said there were many illegal settlers in his area but attributed the challenge to the missing boundary line between Chiefs around the Great Zimbabwe Monuments area, saying other chiefs were settling people in other Chiefs’ areas as a way of expanding their territories, leaving him without authority over such.
“We have a lot of illegal settlers in my area but that is mainly caused by the absence of boundaries, so what happens is that another chief claims that a certain area is his, then he installs a village head who goes on to parcel land to fellow clansmen.
“Maybe they think when the time comes for demarcation boundaries they will ask where one belongs and the people’s number will be enough to be another chief’s area of jurisdiction. However, I believe they will simply trace history and give each chief his mandated area,” said Murinye.
Murinye has been at loggerheads with his neighbor Chief Mugabe and their people clash from time to time over the boundary issue.
On his part, Chief Mugabe born Matubede Mudavanhu concurred with Murinye over the boundary issue and urged government to address the challenge saying that would easily help stop illegal settlers.
He also said though he was not informed of the operation, he heard that several people were being arrested. He indicated that he was going to have a meeting with village heads to understand what was happening, calling upon implementing authorities to work with Chiefs when carrying out such programmes.
“I was not informed of the programme, I just heard people were being arrested and I am organizing a meeting with my headmen and village heads to understand what is going on,” he said.
He concurred with Murinye on boundary issues saying they were supposed to be drawn as soon as possible if they are to stop illegal settlers.
“The major reason behind these illegal settlements are boundaries, we don’t even know where the boundary between Mugabe and Nemamwa or Charumbira is, and this has led to village heads giving out land to people to secure their areas. So we plead with government to address the issue as a matter of urgency,” said Mugabe.
Chief Chitanga real name Feleni Chauke said he was not consulted also and saying he only heard about the programme from others and is not aware if there are any victims in his area.
People have been asking the logic behind the move especially in resuscitated chieftaincy who are calling the displaced relatives back and are now called illegal settlers.
Some victims around Chief Charumbira and Bere areas said the government was neglecting them after soliciting for votes from them and said if elections were to come any time soon they would not vote for Zanu PF.
“They want us when they want our votes and now that the election is over they are now treating us like trash. What is the logic in displacing us now when we have more than 2o years here, if we were illegal why didn’t they tell us when we settled here,” said one victim.
One teacher from Mushandike School said the evictions in village 15 were psychologically affecting learners and the effects can be felt in class since some families were given a few days to leave.
However, the Permanent Secretary in the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Dr Addmore Pazvakavambwa said the programme was ongoing and a number of arrests have been made but the police has full information on the arrests.
He said the land barons’ menace was not peculiar to Masvingo Province but the whole country and the programme was part of government’s intervention which is targeting those without requisite paperwork.
“This is the government’s intervention on the illegal settlement problem across the country, what is happening is, the operation is targeting those without requisite paperwork to show whether they are legally settled or not.
“So the issue has nothing to do with chieftaincy boundaries because the country has ways for people to acquire land, so if the procedures are not followed then one will be arrested. However, the advantage is that they are being allowed to go to court where they can defend themselves so no one is being disadvantaged if they are legally settled and can prove that in court then there is nothing to worry about,” said Dr Pazvakavambwa.
He said the programme also involve other departments like EMA which, if people are settled in areas that cause environmental damage are also being asked to leave.
“The programme involves other departments like the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) so if one is staying in a wetland or a river catchment area then they have to be evacuated and that has nothing to do with how many years you have been staying there or who gave you the land.
“The operation doesn’t care who gave you the land as long as proper procedures are not followed one will be evicted. The procedure is that if its agricultural land one gets through lands and if it’s residential land the one goes to the local authority. So I want to warn those who haven’t been approached to make sure they have the required documents to avoid inconveniences,” said Dr Pazvakavambwa.
He went on to say all those with complaints should approach the lands office or their local authorities saying those offices were ready to assist in that regard.
