Chiefs grab sugarcane farms
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
At least three traditional chiefs have grabbed sugar cane farms here,
arguing that as leaders of the Shangaani community they did not benefit from
the chaotic land reform programme.
07.11.12
by Regerai Tututuku
Chiefs believe they have a right to the sugarcane farms.
Chiefs Felix Murandu Tshovani, Mavivi Misheck Gudo and Mundau Sengwe
forcibly took sugar cane farms from fellow blacks. Chief Tshovani took over
plot 16 in Hippo Valley while chiefs Sengwe and Gudo grabbed plots in the
Mukwasine area. A member of the Zimbabwe Sugar Milling Workers Union, Marko
Shoko, confirmed the development, adding that the traditional leaders were
now living in the farm houses.
Shoko said the chiefs were claiming that the land belonged to their
ancestors.
“Chief Tshovani displaced a war veteran called Guruveni,” Shoko told The
Zimbabwean.
A farmer in the area who refused to be named said they were not sure who was
going to be the next target. “Those who lost farms were being targeted
because they are not Shangaani-speaking people,” added the farmer.
A spokesman for the chiefs, Chief Tshovani, yesterday confirmed that they
had taken over the farms. He said the move followed a plea they made two
years ago to vice president Joyce Mujuru that they needed sugar cane farms.
“As leaders of the Shangaani community we told the vice president that we
needed farms and after discovering that no one was taking us seriously, we
then took over plots of our choice,” said Chief Tshovani.
Masvingo Provincial Governor Titus Maluleke confirmed the development. He
said chiefs in Chiredzi were entitled to sugar cane farms as they were
custodians of the land.
Hordes of Zanu (PF) supporters, among them senior politicians, civil
servants and members of the security service, grabbed huge pieces of land in
the sugar cane growing area of Chiredzi under the land reform programme in
2000.