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for allegedly grabbing their beasts and taking them to his Sancho Ranch Farm, which he is allegedly subletting to a former commercial farmer.
The villagers said they have since approached the office of the provincial administrator, Ms Cecilia Chitiyo, to address the matter.
Some of the villagers who spoke to Chronicle said they were now fed up with their traditional leader’s corrupt way of handling issues at his traditional courts.
They said the least fine that the chief charges against his subjects at the traditional court was a goat.
“This has been happening for years and at one point the chief was reprimanded by the Provincial Administrator after we complained about his corrupt ways when dealing with traditional court cases. He only reformed for a short period and has since started engaging in his corrupt ways again. When passing judgment at his traditional court, the least fine he demands is a goat with the majority of cases attracting a beast as fine,” said one of the subjects.
Another villager said Chief Chirumanzu was leasing part of his farm to another farmer, a development which he said was against the Government policy on land reform. “He now has a lot of beasts taken from villagers and most of these beasts are kept at his farm which he is partly leasing to a former commercial farmer. What he is doing is totally against the Government’s land reform programme policy,” he said.
Chief Chirumanzu denied the allegations levelled against him by his subjects. He said it was not the first time that he heard of the allegations against him.
The traditional leader accused members of his extended family whom he said desperately wanted to take over his chieftainship, of misrepresenting facts to both his people and the office of the PA.
“I am aware of all the allegations levelled against me and I have challenged those who claim that I took away beasts from them to come forward and claim them.
Ndinoziva kuti vaMhazi ndivo varikurwisana neni vachiendesa nhema kwaPA asi ndizvo zvinofanirwa kuitika Shumba dzinofanirwa kuparana asi mutongi ndemumwe (I know people from my clan are the ones who are going around telling lies to the extent of going to the Provincial Administrator’s office.
It’s normal, however, for people from the chieftainship family to fight for the throne but they should know that at the end of it all there can only be one chief,” he said.
Ms Chitiyo confirmed receiving complaints against Chief Chirumanzu. She, however, said it was not the first time that she received complaints against Chief Chirumanzu from his subjects.
The Midlands PA said she once met the chief and his subjects over the issue with a view to addressing them.
“I have, however, advised the subjects to put their complaints in writing and submit their grievances to my office so that we can see how best we can handle the matter. The last time the subjects complained about their chief, we met him and we all thought the matter had been amicably resolved,” she said.
Online Reporter