De-mining brings joy to villagers in Mash Central

Bindura Bureau
THOUSANDS of villagers living along Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique in Rushinga and Mt Darwin districts in Mashonaland Central have benefited from a $2 million de-mining project, which has cleared land from the dangerous mines planted by Rhodesian forces during the liberation struggle and have been maiming and killing people and their livestock.

The massive de-mining exercise single-handedly funded by Government of Japan through Halo Trust, has brought joy to villagers in Rushinga and Mukumbura, who are now able to exploit natural resources such as the land itself and water. The exercise, which started in 2013, has been funded by the Japanese Government under its Land Mine-Free World by 2023 project. The main objective of the project was to create a safer environment for local communities, their children and livestock and to return land to agricultural production through the removal of unexploded mines.

More than 29 000 landmines have been cleared on vast swathe of land which has been released under this project. HALO country director Mr Tom Dibb says more than 300 Zimbabweans were employed and hoped that the people of Mukumbura and Rushinga will use the cleared land sustainably.

“We realised that it was critical to employ local people. We trained them and they have been good at their work. We cleared a lot of mines including, PRM2 mines, booby traps and plastic plough shears. The land is now cleared and the people can now enjoy the land of their area. They now have access to the land and can do many activities such as water harvesting, livestock grazing and so forth, things they could not do in the past without putting their lives in danger,” he said. Mashonaland Central Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Cde Martin Dinha thanked the Government of Japan and HALO Trust for assisting Zimbabwe clear the landmines.

“Japanese people are cultured and good mannered. They are also respectful and practical. Zimbabwe stands to benefit more from them. We are happy with the landmining clearing and we are currently working on the twinning of Mashonaland Central with a Japanese city.

“We are more than grateful to these people,” he said. Landmines were planted during the war of liberation to bar liberation forces from crossing into Zimbabwe from Mozambique. Since the late 1970s, many villagers and their livestock have lost life and limb and have been unable to fully benefit from the landmine-infested vast tracts of land.