adminWalter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
At least 2 000 more families are set to get land in Hurungwe District following an on-going verification and audit exercise being undertaken by Government and the ruling party Zanu-PF.
The verification exercise revealed that there were still some white multiple farm owners who were leasing land to their colleagues, while it was also discovered that thousands of hectares were underutilised because some new farmers grabbed more than they could work on.
The programme is mostly targeted at benefiting youths and women from five constituencies in Hurungwe who did not benefit from the initial land reform undertaken in 2000. About 1 500 youths and 500 women will receive land under the on-going programme that has identified over 5000 ha for redistribution.
In an interview recently following a meeting of the Mashonaland West lands committee in Karoi, Minister of State for Mashonaland West and chairperson of the provincial lands committee, Cde Faber Chidarikire, said Government was verifying uptake of land in the province.
“We are going around looking at cases that need to be resolved as an offshoot of the land reform we undertook. It is an on-going process to try and understand what is happening on the farms,” said Minister Chidarikire.
Provincial chairperson, Cde Temba Mliswa, said all land identified would benefit mostly youths and women.
“All irregularities and corruption will be addressed through this programme we are undertaking to verify and hear queries on the ground.
“We are looking at getting at least 2 000 other plots that will benefit youths and women,” he said.
Cde Mliswa said the verification programme would be done district by district to account for all the land.
Online Reporter