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Remember Deketeke Herald Correspondent
The construction of a smart city in Mt Hampden is being carried out in consultation with the relevant stakeholders and graves found in the area will not be desecrated, contrary to assertions by one Ms Eugene Majuru that due processes are not being followed, the Government said yesterday.
Ms Majuru claimed in a social media post that the Government planned to demolish graves in Mount Hampden to accelerate the development of the smart city and that no consultations were done with traditional leaders, particularly of the Mbari Clan.
In response to this social media post, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage explained how graves would be treated in the face of development in the Mount Hampden area.
“In doing so, the Ministry is strictly guided by the relevant legislation and traditional customs deserving of such a process,” reads the statement.
“For the record, all ancient graves are protected by both National Museums and Monument of Zimbabwe Act and recent graves by the Cemeteries Act.
“The two acts complement each other legally in the protection of such ancestral places of value. Any person who wantonly or wilfully destroys or does or causes to be done any damage, defacement, or disfigurement to any monument, vault, tombstone, or grave whether within or without a cemetery, or to any building, erection, railing, fence, tree, shrub, plant, thing or natural object, adjoining, connected with or relating to any such monument, vault, tombstone, or grave, shall be guilty of an offense and liable to a fine not exceeding level five or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.”
The Ministry indicated the steps to be taken in the event of finding human remains during construction.
Online Reporter