By Virginia Njovo
A long-abandoned soap factory in Majaya Village, ward 32 under Chief Marozva in Bikita West has become a source of conflict between the local village head and community members.
Factory chairperson, Miriro Munhanga said the factory, established in 2000 to empower women through skills training, only operated for a few years before becoming defunct.
However, former members of the soap-making project claim to have been denied access to the facility, which has reportedly been allocated to someone else.
“We used to produce soap during the first few years after the project started. Though the project collapsed due to some challenges, we wanted to revive it. But now the land and the building are no longer accessible to us, as the village head gave it to someone else,” said Munhanga.
Contacted for comment by TellZim News, village head, Kumbirai Majaya Chisi, said he was not blocking any development in the village.
“I’m not stopping anyone from using the soap factory, but it was inactive for years. So I gave the land to someone else who is now using it productively,” said Chisi.
Chisi said the factory was initially funded by Gladmore Charamba as a community empowerment initiative for his mother who is now late and said he enquired from the funders if they wanted to continue so he would give them another piece of land.
“The so called factory was funded by Charamba who said he was doing the project for his mother and the community was benefiting from it.
“I approached him to check if he wanted to continue funding the project so that I can give them another piece of land to do their project. He said he only wanted roofing sheets from the building and nothing more,” said Chisi.
However, at the center of the matter was a row over the village leadership where Chisi is fighting for control with one Jevas Ruvanda who once presided over the area.
Ruvanda who is a nephew to Chisi is said to have been asked to rue the village while Chisi was still young, but later refused to relinquish power when Chisi came of age. The matter was taken to court multiple times, including an appeal to the High Court, which ruled in favor of Chisi.
Chisi’s legal representative from Ruvengo and Maboke Legal Practitioners, Collen Maboke told TellZim News that the case was still open as Ruvanda was not giving in to the court ruling.
“Ruvanda could not easily surrender authority over the village which was given to him when Chisi was young. He later denied targeting of Majaya village being divided so that he can get his part and call it Mutema village.
“Ruvanda lost the case and was even sentenced to six months in jail for defying a court order. Though the sentence was initially suspended, he later served the term for continued violations. The file of this case is not closed since Ruvanda does not comply with the ruling of court of law,” said Maboke.
