New farmers owe council US$200 000
By Midlands Correspondent
Monday, 07 March 2011 15:25
GWERU – Newly resettled farmers under the A2 model owe Vungu Rural District
Council about $200 000 arising from unpaid development levies since 2009,
according to the council’s chairperson.
Speaking on the sidelines of a belated provincial World Aids Day
commemorations in Chiwundura recently, VRDC chairperson Celtone Charamba
said some of the A2 farmers have not paid a single cent since 2009.
He said council had intended to take legal action against the farmers but
after a series of meetings, the farmers agreed to settle their arrears by
the end of April.
“Newly resettled A2 farmers owe us around $200 000 in development levies.
Some have not paid since 2009 while others who were resettled later are
still to pay. We had intended as council to take legal action against the
farmers but they have set their own deadline and agreed to pay by end of
April,” said Charamba.
The farmers are supposed to pay US$1 per hectare as development levy.
Council sources revealed that most of the farmers have been resisting paying
the levy arguing that they could not pay for land allocated to them by
government.
“These farmers were of the opinion that they had a right not to pay for land
allocated to them. Yet it is council’s obligation to see that farmers pay
development levy for the pieces of land they occupy,” said one source.
Since the inception of the land reform programme widely supported by
President Robert Mugabe’s government, critics have been arguing that the
programme is chaotic with farmers lacking adequate resources to effect full
production at the farms.