Own Correspondent
The Masvingo Centre for Research and Advocacy (MACRAD) has raised concern over the high levels of inequality being fuelled by land evictions in the Chilonga area.
The Chilonga people, who are predominantly Shangani, settled in
the lowveld for over five centuries but were directed to vacate their land in 2021 to pave way for grass farming.
The government directive followed the gazetting of Statutory Instrument 50 of 2021 directing more than 12 000 villagers to abandon 13 000 hectares of their land to pave way for lucerne grass farming.
The Director of MACRAD, Ephraim Mtombeni said; ” We continue to witness cases of land displacements and dispossession in Chilonga. This has fueled inequalities especially given the fact that the Chilonga people were marginalised even before the land dispossessions.
Women and young people continue to bear the brunt of these inequalities that are being fuelled by land dispossessions. Livelihoods have been affected as well as most families used to rely on farming and now they don’t have enougn land to do farming activities.”
Mtombenl expressed concern over rights vlolations in the area.
“MACRAD has moblised residents to defend their land and those vilagers that have been standing up to defend their ancestral land continue to face various forms of persecution. We have witnessed
cases of physical abuse and arbitrary arrests as well as threats of violence.
At the moment, we have a sizeable number of activists that had to flee the area because of persecution and as MACRAD, we have been mobilising various forms of support for the affected communities,” said Mtombeni.
MACRAD was part of regional organisations that presented a petition to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State during the SADC People’s Summit held this month
in Durban, South Africa.
The petition implored SADC leaders to ensure that there is secure and equitable access to land particularly for women and young people.
The organisations noted that communities within the SADC region must be allowed to participate in decisions over land and natural resources.
Arbitrary displacements continue to be the norm in Zimbabwe due to non-consultiation of communities on issues such as relocation and compensation.
This continues to affect rural livellhoods as most communities that rely on agrculture, are being resettied (without compensation) on smaller pieces of land.
State security agents, ruling party activists and local authorities have used untimidation tactics that include arbitrary arrests, threats of violence and torture against villagers that have dared to speak out against the arbitrary evictions.
In 2022, the High Court dismissed an application by the Chilonga villagers who were challenging their arbitrary eviction.
According to advocacy groups, the capture of the judiciary system and the partisan nature of the police force in Zimbabwe has closed avenues for appeal for communities seeking to challenge government decisions affecting their livelihoods.
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