adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
THE Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing has started placing new resettlement areas nationwide under the jurisdiction of chiefs. The ministry’s director for traditional leaders support services, Mr Fanuel Mukwaira said all resettlement areas in Matabeleland South Province had been placed under substantive chiefs. He said the move now awaited gazetting by Government.
“We are in the process of placing new resettlement areas under existing chiefs. These areas were initially under the supervision of traditional leaders but were turned into commercial farms for the whites during the colonial era which meant that they stopped having sub-district structures.
“All resettlement areas in Matabeleland South have been placed under chiefs and now we are moving the exercise to Mashonaland Central Province. From there other provinces will follow until the exercise has been completed nationwide,” said Mr Mukwaira.
He said the pace of completing the exercise depended on the ability of chiefs to agree upon the boundaries that would be set in the resettlement areas to determine their new areas of jurisdiction.
Matabeleland South provincial administrator Mr Midard Khumalo said chiefs were going to preside over resettlement areas that were close to them.
He said chiefs in the province had held meetings with local authority officials to agree on boundaries.
“Meetings were held at district level and in attendance were chiefs, the district administrator of each area, local authority chief executive officers and local authority officials at head office.
“The chiefs deliberated and agreed on how to set boundaries in the resettlement area. Each chief was allocated an area close to him or her. These resolutions were then presented before full council meetings for adoption,” he said.
Mr Khumalo said the deliberations made in every district were then passed to the provincial level for amendments.
He said each province was expected to submit the proposed suggestions on placement of resettlement areas under chief’s jurisdiction to the head office.
He said these proposals would be gazetted and then chiefs could be given authority to preside over their proposed areas.
Mr Khumalo said once the proposals were approved then it would mean that structures of development at district level would now be applicable in resettlement areas.
“When land was acquired from the whites it was not under the chiefs as stated in the Rural Councils Act, Traditional Councils Act and Provincial Councils Act. Therefore, a legal procedure had to be followed to rectify the situation.
“This initiative will go a long way in ensuring that development is realised in resettlement areas through building schools and clinics. These areas will now have sub structures that channel development at district level,” he said.
Speaking at a Bulilima Rural District Development Committee meeting in Plumtree recently, district administrator Mrs Ethel Moyo said the five chiefs in her area had agreed on their boundaries in the resettlement areas within the district and the resolution would be presented in the next full council for approval.
Chief Bango of Mangwe District said once traditional leaders presided over resettlement areas they would ensure they became fully productive.
He said some people who occupied these resettlement areas were failing to exploit them.
“There is a lot of commotion in the resettlement areas because they do not have leadership presiding there; they all do as they please. A lot of occupants especially in the A1 farms are not productive.
“Some of them don’t have resources to produce but once they fall under the jurisdiction of chiefs then the traditional leaders can lobby for them to get resources. We can also encourage the occupants to be productive,” said Chief Bango.
He said resettlement areas were crucial in boosting the nations’ bread basket.
Online Reporter