Tinashe Sambiri| Zanu PF bigwigs in Masvingo are angling themselves to snatch land belonging to local villagers, it has emerged.

The notorious Zanu PF land barons are targeting land belonging to Masvingo Rural District Council.

The two have already invaded land belonging Masvingo RDC under Chief Charumbira.

See article below courtesy of Midweek Watch:

Powerful Masvingo Zanu-PF members, Goddard Dunira Hungwe and Chivi Central MP, Ephraim Gwanongodza are in the eye of a storm after they allegedly invaded land in Masvingo Rural District Council under Chief Charumbira for commercial purposes.

Village heads and residents who spoke to The Midweek Watch had no kind words for the powerful politicians, Dunira and Gwanongodza whom they accused of invading their grazing lands and dividing it into commercial and residential stands for their own personal benefit.

The two are accused of invading Village 20 B and Village 18 A, about 30km along Masvingo Beitbridge Higway under Chief Charumbira, depriving 120 villagers of grazing land for their more than 2400 cattle and drinking water.

“The area near Bhati along Beitbridge Road has been taken over by Gwanongodza and last week trucks brought bricks for construction of houses, shops and a lodge. We have since lodged a complaint with Chief Charumbira for action to be taken as we feel that the two have belittled us by starting such projects in our area without even consulting us as the custodians of the land,” said an irate Village 18B head, Bridgton Madziyire on the phone.

More than 60 households in Village 18A have been affected by the land invasions according to Madziyire who started staying in the area in 1980.

Madziyire said land has been cleared in preparation for the construction of the lodges and a meeting which was allegedly attended by over 50 people was held recenly and 35 cars were seen parked at the area as they were being shown their pieces of land for development.

The meeting was allegedly attended by acting Chief Bere, Phinias Tafirei as it is said Gwanongodza and Dunira were given the land by him since he is believed the custodian of the area after the resuscitation of Bere chiftainship.

Village 20B head, Author Hapazari who started staying in the area in 1999 said they have witnessed strange movements as bricks are being ferried to the area and clearing of land is going on unabated and it is alleged that Dunira is behind the moves.

“When I visited the area on Saturday last week there was a lot of activity going on as preparations were underway for the construction of a lodge according to people privy to the goings on,” said Hapazari.

Hapazari said there is need for the two to respect them since they are set to lose land for grazing and open wells for drinking water for their cattle if the places are turned into residential and commercial areas.
Madziyire said in some of the areas that they want to build commercial stands there are witches buried there and he asked the wisdom of building a home where there are such sacred graves.

“It is strange that they want to build lodges where there are outlaws of society buried there, we have so many mountains where they can build such facilities and they are readiliy available than to go and descarte our ancestors’ graves.

“What we want is peace in thsi area and respect, not just to invade our land just like that, that is a cause for grave concern, the consequences may be too ghastly to contemplate if the situation is not resolved in an amicable manner,” siad Madziyire.

When contacted for a comment Masvingo Rural District Council chief executive officer, Martin Mubviro said he has dispatched a probe team on the ground to find out what is happening with a view to either regularise the settlements so that they pay rates to the Council according to the law or to evict the invaders.

Dunira was not polite on the phone as he accused this reporter of being used by certain political forces for their own ends and warned that the Press should stay away from such fights.

Gwanongodza however, admitted that they were allocated some land in that area by Chief Bere, but added that they were approached by some people from Chief Charumbira saying they are tresspassing their area.

“There is an on going feud on boundaries issue between the two chieftainships and I have no idea who is the rightful owner. I have some land allocated to me by Chief Bere and that is because we believed he is the rightful custodian of the area, but suddenly we were approached by Chief Charumbira’s people who ordered us to stop any work because the land is under Chief Charumbira.

We have not done anything since then and we are waiting for the finalisation of the dispute between the two chiefs,” said Gwanongodza.
“The said place is within our territory. Village heads have the right to allocate themselves some land and Dunira is one such village head and has every right to occupy it.

“The area is also being invaded by anyone including Zanu-Pf youths who have incorporated Avonmore/Hofmeyer Farm in Manyama and claims that they have full support of some powerful politicians,” said one villager who declined to be named for fear of reprisals. Credit: Midweek Watch