Chipinge South legislator, Enock Porusingazi

By Kenneth Matimaire

CHIPINGE — A fresh dispute over land has erupted in Chisumbanje after Green Fuel chased away some of the villagers in Mutumburi Village from their ancestral land.

While attempts to get an official comment from Green Fuel were futile, the Financial Gazette can report that security personnel from the ethanol-producing company in Chipinge District pounced on more than 70 villagers in Mutumburi who were tending their maize fields late last month, before driving them off their land.
Green Fuel has had a long-running dispute with the villagers over the boundary between its sugarcane plantations and their fields, with parties accusing each other of encroaching into their territory.
Villagers said armed security guards confiscated their maize seed last month and threatened to get them arrested if they continued to farm on the disputed piece of land.
“They arrived around 08:00 hours on December 21 and they said we were trespassing. We were planting our maize and were within our boundary because we have been planting here for more than 70 years and the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) can vouch for us,” said Farai Dube, one of the affected villagers.
“There is a grid that demarcates our boundaries, but surprisingly they told us that they don’t want to hear anything we had to say and went on to chase us away. They grabbed our maize seed and threw it away. There were more than 70 of us.”
Green Fuel is a joint venture between State-owned ARDA and two private firms, Macdom and Rating Investments, owned by business tycoon, Billy Rautenbach.
Another affected villager, Robinson Nyakurwa, lamented that their rights continued to be infringed on by Green Fuel, which seems to be getting support from government.
Four village heads in the area have vowed to mobilise their communities to protest against Green Fuel’s actions.
One of the village heads, Titus Mutandi Mutumburi, said they would fight back to protect their ancestral heritage.
“We will not be moved from the land of our forefathers so easily unless they want to kill us. We have been tilling this land since 1920 and we are ready to fight to protect what rightfully belongs to us. One company cannot benefit at the expense of our people. We cannot be turned into destitutes in our own communal land,” fumed Mutumburi.
Attempts to get an official comment from Green Fuel were futile after questions emailed to one of the company officials, Nicole Rautenbach, were not responded to.
Contacted for comment, Chipinge South legislator, Enock Porusingazi, acknowledged that land disputes between Green Fuel and villagers have become a permanent feature during the beginning of every summer cropping season.
“I’m not privy to that issue. My office is not aware of that case. In fact, I’m hearing it (from you) for the first time. We thought we had resolved the land dispute long back, but it seems that the disputes resurface at the start of every (rainfall) season.
“So what I’m going to do is to investigate the matter; I’m going there right now and hear from Green Fuel and the villagers what actually transpired so that we can be able to find a win-win solution for both parties,” said Porusingazi.
Platform for Youth Development (PYD) – a pressure group representing the interests of villagers in Chipinge — said they were fast becoming impatient over the attitude of the ethanol producing company.
PYD coordinator, Claris Madhuku, warned that if the land dispute goes unresolved, it might spark serious clashes between villagers and the company.
“As Platform for Youth Development trust we are becoming impatient with the approach by Green Fuel, which continues to disrespect channels and platforms (available) for stakeholder (to find) solutions. Green Fuel needs to take this strong warning that Chisumbanje and Chinyamukwakwa communities are cornered and they can be equally sophisticated in defending their territory,” said Madhuku.
Before the latest incident, other villages have had brushes with Green Fuel.
In December 2015, villagers at Chinyamukwakwa were ambushed by riot police at the behest of Green Fuel, which accused them of trespassing as well as vandalising and stealing its property.
Four villagers were arrested during the raid and the matter is still pending at the courts.
By June last year, relations between Green Fuel and Chisumbanje villagers had reached breaking point following the death of one of the villagers, who was shot by security guards for trespassing into the company’s sugarcane plantations.
Two other villagers also sustained severe gunshot wounds.
In August last year, the company started impounding all stray cattle that wandered into its plantations and demanded cash for the release of each beast from the villagers.
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