adminPatrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
THE government has assured close to 2, 000 villagers from Chemagora area in Gokwe who were facing eviction that they will not be moved. Addressing hundreds of villagers gathered at Sikombela Prison in Chemagora area, Gokwe yesterday, Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko assured the farmers of the government’s protection.
He said President Robert Mugabe was concerned about the welfare of Zimbabweans, hence the position.
“No one is going to be moved from this area,” said the VP amid ululations from the villagers.
“However, people need to know that our government abides by the laws of the country and we don’t want criminal activities here.”
VP Mphoko’s declaration that the farmers should stay put in the area comes at a time when there is a High Court ruling granting alleged farm owners the right to evict them.
VP Mphoko said land was of utter importance to every Zimbabwean.
Chemagora families were deemed to have illegally occupied about 54,000 hectares of black-owned farms.
At some point their houses were torched as the land row escalated.
Last year, the families were left homeless after they were evicted and forced to live in makeshift houses by the roadside along the Gokwe-Kwekwe highway for close to a month before the government intervened.
Meanwhile, VP Mphoko said President Mugabe and the late VP Simon Muzenda were some of the liberation war heroes who were detained at Sikombela Old Prison before the country’s independence in 1980 by the colonial regime.
He said it was important that the area be preserved as it had deep roots of the leaders of the liberation struggle.
The VP is on a three-day tour of the Midlands province.
He was accompanied by the Minister of Midlands Provincial Affairs Cde Jason Machaya and Zanu-PF Politburo member Cde July Moyo.
Online Reporter