In a shock move that is expected to trigger mass actions across Matabeleland Region, Villagers from Matobo North and South Constituencies and neighbouring Gwanda North Constituency have called on the President and ruling party to immediately recall their Members of Parliament and dismiss the Minister of State of Provincial Affairs for Matabeleland South allegedly for neglecting the people in the districts and disrespecting traditional leaders in the area.
Speaking at the volatile Maleme Ranch meeting on Sunday afternoon, villagers called on the president to immediately recall the MPs and the Minister as they have failed to listen to nor represent the wishes of the people. The meeting which attracted scores of people from the three districts that surround and benefit from projects run by Maleme Ranch which was supposed to be addressed by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, turned violent after the Vice President, the MPs and Provincial Affairs Minister failed to turn up at the last minute.
Speaker after speaker at the gathering claimed that the people of Matabeleland have been turned into orphans as a result of neglect by the people elected to lead the region. The speakers accused Provincial Affairs Minister Abednico Ncube for selling out the people’s land by signing fraudulent land allocation letters to people from outside the region while locals remained unsettled.
Ncube is understood to have allocated Maleme Ranch to a Central Intelligence Officer Rodrick Mashingaidze without approval of the lands committee and without consulting the local traditional leaders about the land. Mashingaidze who had since began occupying the farm and forcing villagers and the white owners out of the farm faced massive resistance from the people to occupy the farm forcing him to report the matter to the High Court on the basis of the allocation letter signed by Ncube. The High Court ruling is still pending.
On the other hand people from the two Matobo Constituencies and Gwanda North, want their MPs Never Khanye, Saul Mahalima Ncube and Madodana Sibanda removed from the august house because of what they call neglecting the constituencies and undermining the authority of the chiefs and other traditional leaders. The three MPs are accused of remaining silent through out the Maleme Ranch fiasco, ignoring calls from the chiefs for them to stop the land occupation but choosing to side with the people accused of grabbing the land.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the gathering , one of the leaders of the villagers accused the MPs and the Minister for “bowing to instructions from Harare instead of advising Harare of the wishes of the people on the ground.”
“We have a serious problem with these yes man MPs, they bow to instructions from Harare instead of telling Harare what people on the ground want,” he said.
“The Maleme Ranch issue has been dragging for over a year now and they are aware of it and its their people affected but they have not said a word about it in Parliament not even to the lands committee or Minister, so why are they there? They must just go,” he fumed.
Another of the leaders blamed the MPs for neglecting the people as evidenced by their failure to turn up for the meeting and stopping people from attending the meeting.
“If these MPs really cared they should have been here with us but because they don’t care they have never attended even a single meeting to sort this land problem out.”
“We are very well informed that the MPs were the ones sending their youth around telling people that the meeting had been cancelled and that anyone who would attend the meeting will be beaten by riot police or even get arrested,” said the leader.
“This attitude from our leaders is the one that caused this mayhem you see happening now. They don’t regard us as people and so we want them to feel that we are people too and they must go. If they cared they should have been here with us and its them that should have been explaining to us what really is happening here not Vice President Mphoko,” he said.
Sources within the villagers have indicated that a petition is circulating around the constituencies calling on President Mugabe and the speaker of Parliament to recall the three MPs and the Provincial Affairs Minister. The sources claim that they are happy because the move to oust the MPs and Minister is being led by known ZANU PF members united with those perceived to be opposition which makes it a genuine people concern not a political agenda.
“We are very happy that people of Matobo and Wenlock are united on this matter as one without political affiliation and agree to fight for what is theirs. We have people from both ZANU PF and opposition parties joining church leaders and other organisations to move this matter forward and so can not be made political,” said a villager.