We, as Chasara and Kapere Villagers in Ward 11, Magunje Constituency, Hurungwe District, Mashonaland West Province, write this open letter to you, His Excellency Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. .
We are being displaced by a proposed cement project by WHI-ZIM, a joint venture between Lebanmon Investment and West International Holdings.
We are seeking your intervention to save us in this matter.
We welcome the investment in our district, but we decry the bad sitting Your Excellency.
Some of our family members were relocated in 1993 because of the construction of Magunje Dam.The cement site is less than 1.5 km away,in the dam’s catchment area and upstream.The site is also less than 100m from one of the tributaries that feeds into the main river,Murereshi,where the dam is on.
ZINWA and EMA have both confirmed the site to be ok.
The proximity to the dam will, with time, pollute the tributaries in the vicinity.
However, we note the following:
ZINWA is the custodian of all surface and underground water bodies but not responsible for aquatic organisms, domestic, humans,animals that rely on the dam, and its catchment areas .
As long as the factory is upstream of the dam,negative environmental effects can not be downplayed .
We challenge both ZINWA and EMA to make available which site plan they used in their assessments because at the time these ‘reports’ were made public, the site plan even up to date,are not yet available from the Department of Physical Planning.
Our constitutional rights have been violated.
We were never consulted at all on this matter.
Neither were we engaged in the processes as everything was done outside.
We raised our concerns in letters we have written to the Ministry of Local Government, Mashonaland West State and Devolution Minister, District Development Coordinator, Hurungwe Rural District Council and there has not been any response.
We engaged parliamentary portfolio committee on lands, they too have not responded yet.
We are very much aware of a letter from Vice President Kembo Mohadi asking Hurungwe Rural District Council Chair, Mary Mliswa, to ‘facilitate for the acquisition of that land’ dated 5 June, 2024.
The reason we have been writing to the various government departments is to seek clarification on whether ‘that land’ is our fields and pastures or there was some misunderstanding somewhere, otherwise we would have put the case to rest with at least an understanding.
Given that the investor had been allocated 50ha in Magunje Growth Point Industrial Park by HRDC in a letter dated 24 January, 2024, we were of the opinion the investor had been well catered for in a hub where it was deemed suitable for cement production.
We have hung on to Presidential Affairs Press Statement that investors, industry and all commercial entities must not occupy rural communities fields and pastures and kuti hakuna munhu mutema mu Zimbabwe asina musha nemafuro with such hope but we seem to have hit a brick wall because every department is turning a deaf ear.
Chief Chanetsa has allocated 135ha, part of which are our fields and pastures to the investors and left us at the mercy of the investor to compensate and relocate us according to the EMA Certificate, 10000034346 conditions.
In The Herald newspaper article published earlier this year, we read that no one would be affected and relocated.
Your Excellency, you have emphasized all the time that as we embrace private sector led development and industrialisation, villagers must be consulted and engaged and their views taken on board.
We have not been engaged nor consulted.
There is a deafening silence.
Kune ninga rino vigwa vana Chief Nematombo as we speak, raka vhurwa rika iswa peg marking ye red and white kumusoro nepasi
(A sacred cave where Chief Nematombo is buried was opened. A red and white peg marks the place now)
We are supposed to have prepared for the agricultural season, half our fields have been taken over, and the pastures.The said investors, accompanied by armed police, occupied our fields and gardens one night in July 2024.
Our fellow villagers were arrested when they went to investigate movements and lights in the fields.
Subsequently, four elderly women were arrested as they tried to gain access to their gardens, and another one tried to do land preparation.The matters are still before the courts.
The gardens were burnt down, banana plantations and cassava destroyed, including the seasonal crops
It has become very apparent that your Excellency, ndimi mega muno kwanisa kuti betsera nenhau iyi as no government department according to our understanding, is willing to engage us.
We remain hopeful that your listening ear will save us.
We, the displaced villagers of Chasara and Kapere, Ward 11,
Magunje Constituency.